The PDP candidate for governor in the state, Dr. Azeez Adediran, also known as Jandor, has been given permission by the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which is based in Ikeja, to serve the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, with an election petition by substituted service. The panel also agreed that Adediran should serve Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, his equivalent in the Labour Party, in the same capacity.
The petition’s respondents include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Lagos governor and Dr Hamzat Obafemi, who serves as the governor’s deputy; the APC; Rhodes-Vivour; and the Labour Party (LP).
Through their attorney, Mr. Austin Akpomreta, Adediran and his party, the PDP, had informed the tribunal that he was unable to personally serve the petition on the respondents Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and Rhodes-Vivour since they were not there in person to accept it.
As a result, Adediran requested permission from the court to deliver the petition and other documents to the governor and his deputy through any officer or the secretary of the APC at the party’s Lagos State Secretariat, located at No. 151, Acme Road, Ikeja.
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Additionally, he requested permission from the court to use any LP officer or secretary at the LP’s Lagos State Secretariat, located at No. 59, Oduduwa Way, GRA, Lagos, to serve Rhodes-Vivour with the petition and other legal documents.
In the petition, Adediran and PDP argued that Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Hamzat, were ineligible to run for office at the time of the election, and Rhodes-Vivour, who INEC reported received the second-highest number of votes in the Feb. 25 gubernatorial election, was similarly ineligible. They therefore asked that all votes cast for the two candidates in the election be deemed invalid.
The PDP candidate for governor demanded that Sanwo-Olu and Rhodes-Vivour be disqualified from the election due to their violations of the Electoral Act of 2022 and INEC’s rules.
