In recent news, the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), have filed a petition before the Lagos governorship election petitions tribunal. They are asking the tribunal to disqualify Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and nullify his governorship victory over an alleged fake GCE result that was submitted to INEC during his first-term governorship bid.
According to the petition, Mr. Sanwo-Olu failed to attach a copy of the GCE O’Level result he claimed to obtain in 1981 along with his form EC9 as required by the Electoral Act 2022. The petitioners discovered that the statement of result submitted by Mr. Sanwo-Olu for his first term election as governor of Lagos state was not confirmed by WAEC. It was confirmed to be a fake result.
The PDP and Mr. Adediran want the disqualification of the All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party candidates in the election for non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022. They have challenged the outcome of the March 18 governorship election on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the electoral law and the Independent National Electoral Commission guidelines. The petitioners also claim that at the time of the governorship election, Messrs Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and Rhodes-Vivour were not qualified to contest.
The PDP and Mr. Adediran are praying that all votes cast for the unqualified candidates in the election be declared wasted. The petitioners cited four grounds of non-compliance warranting disqualification of Messrs Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, who were declared the winner of the election by INEC. The petition also cites another four grounds of non-compliance warranting disqualification of Mr. Rhodes-Vivour, who was declared to have scored the second-highest number of votes in the election.
The petitioners accused the APC of not complying with the ‘INEC Time Table and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.’ The Lagos state chapter of the APC failed to give the 21 days’ notice to INEC before the conduct of the primary election, as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2022. The petitioners also cited the APC's failure to submit the nomination form of its candidate(s) not later than 180 days before the conduct of the general election in forms EC9.
In conclusion, the petitioners alleged that the APC did not comply with the Electoral Act 2022, which requires every political party sponsoring a candidate in the general election to submit the nomination form of such candidate(s). The petitioners also noted the omission of the oath page in Form EC9 for the third respondent, Mr. Hamzat, which would have shown that it was not endorsed by the commissioner for oath within the time prescribed by the Electoral Law 2022.
