18th September, 2015
Henry Ojelu
The Lagos National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Ikeja Friday dismissed the petition filed by Segun Adewale of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP against the election of Senator Solomon Adeola representing Lagos-west Senatorial District.
Delivering judgment on the petition, the tribunal led by Justice Sylvester Orji held that d Adewale’s petition against Adeola’s election lack merit.
Adewale had urged the tribunal through his petition to invalidate the election of Adeola on the ground that he was not qualify to contest the election.
He contended that Adeola did not obtain lawful votes to be declared winner during the election since it was marred by irregularities.
The tribunal however disagreed with Adewale’s contention,insisting that there was no substantial evidence to proof that Senator Adeola was not qualify to run for April 28 election.
On the issue of irregularities at the polling units, the tribunal held that Adewale did not provide substantial evidence to validate his claim.
It noted that since the petitioner had alleged that there were irregularities at several polling units, his party agent should have given evidence to confirm such.
In the absence of the evidence of any party agent, the tribunal insisted that Adewale’s allegation of irregularities at several polling unit were mere speculation.
The tribunal lambasted Adewale and his legal team for disregarding the court guideline in filing his final written submission.
The tribunal members noted that Adewale’s legal team filed 104 pages of final written address as against the 40 pages stipulated by law.