By OUR REPORTER
Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State during the last March 18 election, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran a.k.a. Jandor, has in his petition before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the state sought the disqualification of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Labour Party, (LP) candidate, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and that he should be declared as winner of the election.
The PDP governorship candidate’s petition is based on allegation of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Law as well as the guidelines of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In his petition marked “EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023”, reportedly obtained on Monday, Abdul-Azeez Adediran and the PDP are claiming that at the time the governorship election was held, Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Hamzat, and LP candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, were not qualified to contest the election. He, therefore, prayed that all votes cast for them in the election be declared wasted.
The DEFENDER reports that while Sanwo-Olu was declared winner of the election with over 700,000 votes according to INEC’s collated results, Rhodes-Vivour came second with over 300,000 votes while Adediran came distant third with less than 70,000.
Jandor also claimed that Sanwo-Olu failed to attach a copy of the GCE O/Level result he claimed to have sat for in 1981 along with his form EC9 as required by the Electoral Act 2022.
Jandor said after applying for the Certified True Copy of Governor Sanwo-Olu 2019 form CF001, it was then discovered that a Statement of Result issued by Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School, Ijebu-Ife for May/June 1981 GCE O Level Examination with examination number 17624/118, which he (Sanwo-Olu) submitted for his first term election as governor of the state was not confirmed by WAEC.
He added that “The disqualification of the governorship candidate of LP was also hinged on non-compliance of the LP with the requirement of the Electoral Law in the conduct of the primary election that produced the candidate.”
He said, “The notice of the primary election was issued by the state chapter of the party as against the provision that it must be issued and signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the party.” Daily Trust
