Why We’ll Appeal Judgment Affirming Sanwo-Olu’s Election – Labour Party

The Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State will appeal against the judgment of the Appeal Court affirming Babajide SanwoOlu’s re-election as the duly elected governor of the state.

This was disclosed to THE WHISTLER on Tuesday by LP’s State Secretary, Sam Emeka Okpala.

A three-man panel comprising Justice Yargata Nimpa, Justice Samuel Bola, and Justice Paul Bassey, had on November 15, unanimously dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Olajide Adediran, for lack of merit.

The court also dismissed the appeal filed by LP and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, thereby affirming the re-election of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat.

But speaking with THE WHISTLER, Okpala who expressed disappointment at the ruling of the appellate court, described it as a ‘travesty of justice’.

According to him, despite all the evidence presented by his party before the court, LP’s case was dismissed on technical grounds, adding that it was unacceptable.

“We’re appealing on the grounds that the judgment of the appellate court was a travesty of justice. In the face of overwhelming evidence, we presented before your lordships, and they were all dismissed. It’s not acceptable to us.

“We look up to the judiciary to be the last hope of the common man. But when the judiciary that’s supposed to be the hallow temple of justice becomes a hallow temple of injustice, then the centre can never hold,” Okpala said.

“We still have confidence that the judiciary, through the judges or justices of the Supreme Court, would look into the matter and decide based on the evidence before them, not on technicality,” the LP scribe added.

He informed that the party’s lawyers are already working on the appeal to the Supreme Court.

LP and its candidate Rhodes-Vivour are challenging the re-election of Sanwo-Olu on the grounds that the election that produced him did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution, and was characterized by irregularities.

Sanwo-Olu was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Rhodes-Vivour who gathered 312,329 votes, and Adediran who came a distant third with 62,449 votes.