All Progressives Congress V. MR Joseph Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje & Ors (2015)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

OBANDE FESTUS OGBUINYA, J.C.A.(Delivering the Leading Judgment)

A single decision of the Governorship Election Tribunal of Lagos State (hereinafter referred to as the “trial tribunal”), coram judice: M. I. Sirajo, J. (Chairman), G. C. Anulude and A. Rotimi-Balogun, JJ (Members), in Petition No. Gov./EPT./L/15/2015, delivered on 1st July, 2015, gave birth to four extant appeals.

This cross-appeal is one of them. It probes into the correctness of some portions of the decision; precisely the competence of paragraphs 13(b) and 14 of the petition as viable grounds to query the election.

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The facts of the petition, which transformed into the cross-appeal, are submissive to brevity and easy comprehension. The third cross-respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC, for short), a body constitutionally assigned with the onerous task of conducting election in Nigeria, conducted election into the office of the Governor of Lagos State on 11th April, 2015. In the said election, the fourth cross-respondent was the flag bearer of the cross-appellant, All Progressives Congress, (APC): a registered political party in Nigeria. The second

cross-respondent, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), another registered political party in Nigeria, had the first cross-respondent as its standard bearer during the election. At the end of the election exercise, the third cross-respondent, INEC, via the fifth cross-respondent, declared and returned the fourth cross-respondent as the winner of the election. The first and second cross-respondents were displeased with the result of the election. Hence, on 30th April, 2015, they beseeched the trial tribunal, by dint of a petition, located at the threshold of volume 1 of the record, at pages I-II of it, and solicited for the following reliefs:

1) That it may be determined and doth declared that the 3rd respondent cannot validly present a candidate for the election into the office of the Governor in the gubernatorial election of Saturday, 11th April, 2015, having failed to comply with the mandatory provisions of Sec. 85 of the Electoral Act, 2011 (as amended).

2) That it may be determined and doth declared that the 2nd respondent, Mr. Dapo Akinwumi Ambode being the candidate presented by the 3rd respondent was not qualified to have contested the Lagos State

gubernatorial elections conducted on Saturday, 11th April, 2015, as the process of his nomination was not in compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

3) That the 2nd respondent be disqualified as a candidate for the gubernatorial election held in Lagos State on the Saturday, 11th April, 2015 as the process of his nomination was not in compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

4) That it may be determined and doth declared that the 1st Petitioner, Mr. Joseph Olumimi Kolawole Agbaje being the candidate with the highest number of votes cast amongst the lawful and the valid candidates for the gubernatorial election held in Lagos on Saturday, 11th April, 2015, be declared as the winner of the said election.

5) AN ORDER nullifying the act of the 4th respondent in declaring the 2nd respondent, Mr. Dapo Akinwumi Ambode as the Governor-Elect in the gubernatorial election held in Lagos State on Saturday, 11th April, 2015.

6) That it may be determined and doth declared

the 1st petitioner is winner of the gubernatorial elections held in Lagos on Saturday, 11th April, 2015, being the candidate with majority votes cast amongst the lawful and valid votes cast at the said elections.