Lagos Guber: Tribunal strikes out LP, Rhodes-Vivour from Jandor’s petition

The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal on Monday struck out the Labour Party and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, from the petition
filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Olajide Adediran, against the recent governorship election in the state.

Jandor is challenging the return of Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat in the March 18 Lagos State gubernatorial election.

At the proceeding, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Arum Ashom, said the court would deliver judgment first in the case of the PDP and its candidate before giving its judgment in the petition of the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

While delivering the judgment, which was read by Justice Abdullahi, the tribunal first dwelt on the preliminary objections filed by the parties.

On whether the deputy governor, Obafemi Hamzat, could be listed as a respondent in the petition, the Tribunal noted that the issue has been decided in a number of cases and went on to hold that a deputy governor and governor are not separate candidates and they are not required to pay a separate security deposit.

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The PDP in the second objection, asked the tribunal to decide whether a person who lost an election could be joined as a respondent in an election petition, considering that Jandor had joined the candidate of the Labour Party Rhodes Vivour as a respondent in his petition.

The tribunal agreed that a petition is contemplated to be filed between the winner and the loser of an election and not between two persons who lost.

The tribunal then upheld the preliminary objection and subsequently struck out the name of Rhodes-Vivour from the petition filed by Jandor.

The court also removed from its records all exhibits tendered in evidence by Rhodes-Vivour in the petition filed by Jandor while holding that Rhodes-Vivour cannot subsequently go on to challenge any part of the judgment of the Jandor’s petition or else he becomes a meddlesome interloper.

Similarly, the court held that the Labour Party ought not to have made a respondent in Jandor and the PDP’s petition. The name of the party was subsequently struck out for being improperly joined. All evidence and exhibits concerning the party were also expunged from the tribunal’s records.