Tribunal dismisses Agbaje’s petition against Ambode’s election

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The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has upheld the victory of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who was returned winner of the April 11, 2015, poll in Lagos State by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The three-man tribunal, led by Justice Muhammad Sirajo, struck out the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Jimi Agbaje, seeking nullification of Ambode’s victory.
Ambode polled 811,994 votes ahead of his strongest contender, Agbaje, who polled 659,788 votes to emerge the first runner-up.

But Agbaje and the PDP had approached the tribunal, claiming that the April 11, 2015, governorship poll in Lagos State was conducted in breach of INEC’s specified guidelines, adding that the said election was fraught with irregularities.

The tribunal, in a ruling on the consolidated preliminary objection filed by Ambode and his party, the All Progressives Congress, described the petition by Agbaje and the PDP as incompetent and academic, saying it could no longer survive.

The panel held, “In the instant petition, apart from seeking an order nullifying the election of the second respondent, the petitioner did not ask for an order for fresh election.

“So if, for instance, the election is nullified, the people of Lagos State would be left in anarchy as no order can validly be made for the conduct of fresh election, same having not been sought for.
“A petition that is found on disqualification of a respondent and an order of nullification of the election must, as of necessity, contain a prayer for an order of fresh election.

Where such a prayer is lacking, the petition will be incompetent and academic as even the resolution of such a petition in favour of the petitioner will not confer any utilitarian value on the petitioner(s).
“Where no relief for fresh election is claimed in a petition, a ground of petition founded on Section 138(1) (b) of the Electoral Act and the entire petition itself are incompetent and liable to be struck out.”

Sirajo said the petition by Agbaje and the PDP, as constituted before the court, had been rendered defective by the failure to pray for the conduct of a fresh election.

Reacting to the tribunal’s verdict, Ambode, through his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, said the challenge of his electoral victory was needless.

He, however, urged the opposition to join hands with him in the task of moving the state forward.
He said, “I am elated at the ruling of the tribunal which is an affirmation of my victory at the polls. On April 11, 2015, the people of Lagos spoke with their votes about continuity and that is what the tribunal has just reaffirmed.”

But the PDP in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Gani Taofeek, described the ruling as a miscarriage of justice.

The party said it would file an appeal against the ruling and also petition the National Judicial Council to demand disciplinary actions against the tribunal judges.

The statement read, “We are jolted and embarrassed that our petition can die prematurely without being heard on the merit. We think there is a miscarriage of justice here. We are interested in the motive and motivators. The judges held that it had jurisdiction to hear our appeal; that our grounds are also competent.

“It, however, held that our petition has no life because it didn’t include a relief for a re-election. This is supposed to be determined during the proper trial.

“The APC robbed us at the polls; they want to do same at the tribunal. We will pursue this mandate even with the last drop of our blood.”