*Fixes Jan 9 for hearing of Plateau, Cross River governorship appeals
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, reserved its judgement on two separate appeals by the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking to nullify the election of Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
A five-member panel of Justices of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, reserved the judgment in the two appeals after all the parties adopted their briefs of argument.
It is important to note that the appeals were filed by candidate of the LP, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and that of the PDP, Abdulazeez Adediran (Jandor) in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
The apex court reserved the judgement for a date that would be communicated to all the parties in the matter.
The LP and PDP candidates are asking the apex court to set aside the declaration of Sanwo-Olu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the valid winner of the governorship election.
Specifically, the LP and its governorship candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, in the notice of appeal they filed on November 26, urged the court to, among other things, determine whether Sanwo-Olu was qualified to contest the election considering that his deputy and running late, Obafemi Hamzat, has dual citizenship.
The appellants told the court that Hamzat took the citizenship of the United States of America and argued that since the deputy governor was constitutionally ineligible to contest the election, it invalidated Sanwo-Olu’s candidature.
But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, as well as the APC, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal for lack of competence.
The lead lawyer to Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), noted that both the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the petition by the LP and its candidate as lacking in merit.
The Senior Advocate also accused the appellants of deliberately attempting to change the case they presented before the two lower courts.
According to Olanipekun, whereas the appellants, at the lower court, contended that the deputy governor renounced his Nigerian citizenship, he said the case before the apex court was changed to the alleged acquisition of US citizenship by the 3rd respondent (Hamzat).
All the respondents also argued that the case the appellants presented before the Supreme Court was at variance with what was pleaded and decided by both the tribunal and the appellate court.
The Respondents told the court that the case of the LP and its candidate was also dismissed on the premise that they failed to prove the allegations in their petition, having produced incompetent witnesses and filed ineffective processes.
They therefore urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the concurrent findings of the two lower courts in the matter.
In a related development, the PDP and its candidate, Adediran, alleged in their own appeal that they were denied a fair hearing by both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Speaking through their lawyer, Mr Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN), maintained that their case was not heard and determined on its merit by the tribunal.
Onwenwunor told the apex court that the case of his clients was that the deputy governor tendered a forged West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate to INEC in aid of his qualification to contest the election.
He added that a master list that WAEC was subpoenaed to produce before the tribunal showed that the name on the certificate the deputy governor tendered to INEC was different.
The appellants argued that such a discrepancy was weighty enough to affect the eligibility of the 2nd and 3rd respondents to participate in the gubernatorial contest.
But the respondents urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction, saying that the appeal was seeking to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Section 22 of its Act to review evidence that was not considered by the lower courts.
Lead lawyer to the APC, Mr Muiz Banire (SAN), argued that the appeal raised pre-election issues that have not only become statute-barred but on which they also lack the locus standi to litigate.
After hearing the submissions of lawyers to all the parties, the Supreme Court reserved its judgement, saying that the statutory period for the determination of the case would elapse on January 12.
Meanwhile, the apex court has fixed January 9, 2024, for the hearing of governorship election disputes from both Plateau and Cross River States.
The Supreme Court fixed the date after it was notified on Tuesday that all the parties in the appeals from the two states have been served with all the relevant processes.
The apex court also ordered that INEC should be served with the hearing notice.
The court session was attended by prominent personalities including Lagos State Deputy Governor Femi Hamzat, Secretary to the State Government Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, and other top government officials.
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