Lagos State Governor Sanwo-Olu defeats AD, LP at Election Petition Tribunal

An Ikeja Election Petitions Tribunal has dismissed a petition filed by the Alliance for Democracy and the Labour Party, challenging the victory of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice T. T. Asua, in a ruling, dismissed the petitions, due to the inability of the petitioners to file applications for pre-hearing conference after the close of pleadings within seven days as prescribed by law.

The three-man panel noted that timely application for pre-hearing conference was a condition for the hearing of the petitions and that without the application for pre-hearing conferences, the petition cannot commence or get to the stage of judgment.

The panel noted that Section 285(4) of the Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution was inapplicable because the timely application for pre-hearing conferences was a precondition in election petition matters.

Dismissing the petitions, Asua said that inability to serve any of the respondents was not an excuse and that the consequence of failure to apply timely for pre-hearing conference was a dismissal of such a petition.