TheCable

The Lagos state governorship election tribunal has dismissed the petition of Abdul-Azeez Adediran, the PDP governorship candidate, against the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The petitioners had called for the disqualification of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) candidates in the election for “non-compliance” with the Electoral Act 2022.

They had also asked for the disqualification on the basis of non-compliance with the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The petitioners had posited that the APC failed to comply with a section of the Electoral Act 2022 which states that every political party sponsoring a candidate in the general election, shall submit the nomination form of such candidate(s) no later than 180 days before the conduct of the poll, in forms EC9.

During the ruling on Monday, Mikail Abdullahi, one of the justices of the three-member panel, described the petition as “dead on arrival” and “deserving of a befitting burial”.

The tribunal had earlier upheld a preliminary objection on whether Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, governorship candidate of the LP, could be joined as a respondent in the suit filed by the PDP.