26th June, 2015
Henry Ojelu
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have asked the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ikeja, western Nigeria, to dismiss the petition filed by Mr Jimi Agbaje, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Their plea was contained in a preliminary notice of objection jointly filed before the three-man tribunal led by Justice Muhammad Sirajo.
Agbaje had petitioned the tribunal challenging the declaration of Ambode of the APC as winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state.
Other respondents in the suit are the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and its Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner.
The PDP candidate had alleged irregularities during the election which he said breached the provisions of the Independent Electoral Commission’s (INEC) approved guidelines for the polls.
Moving their application at the resumed hearing of the petition yesterday, counsel to Ambode, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), argued that the petition should be struck out for being incompetent.
Olanipekun argued that there was no correlation between the reliefs being sought by the petitioner and the particulars of application on one hand and the grounds for questioning the election on the other hand.
“The grounds and particulars in the petition are at opposites with the facts and reliefs being sought within the purview of Section 285(2) of the 1999 Constitution. I urge my Lordships to dismiss the petition,” Olanipekun said.
He further said that there was no where in the pleadings where the petitioners attacked the victory of the respondents or questioned the conduct of the election.
Olanipekun said: “I submit that there is no petition before your lordships known to law. There are no grounds challenging the election of my client under Section 138(b)(c) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.”
According to him, the court cannot act on sentiment and sympathy of parties, emphasizing that sympathy does not override clear provisions of the law.
Counsel to APC, Dr Muiz Banire aligned with the submissions of Ambode’s counsel and described the petition as having no ground and therefore should be struck out.
“This is a groundless petition, there is no petition before Your Lordships. I pray that the purported document before Your Lordships be struck out,” Banire said.
However, counsel to Agbaje, Mr Clement Onwuenwunor, opposed their submissions and maintained that the petition was competent.
Onwuenwunor argued that the issues for determination by the tribunal had been carefully spelt out.
He said, “Paragraph 13(a) and (b) of our petition questioned the election in Lagos State on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and irregularities such as in the use of the card readers.
“We have looked at their preliminary objections in this case and have concluded that they are objections made on mere technicalities.”
He urged the tribunal to dismiss the notices of preliminary objection with substantial costs in favour of the petitioner.
Justice Sirajo thereafter adjourned the sitting of the tribunal till July 1, 2015 for ruling.