The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Monday dismissed the application of the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who was seeking an order for leave to consolidate his petition with that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Olajide Adediran.
The tribunal headed by Justice Arum Igyen Ashom also dismissed Rhodes-Vivour’s request to file an additional list of witnesses and their written statements on oath.
The three-Justice panel dismissed the application for consolidation after hearing arguments from all the parties on the grounds that the parties, as well as the facts, subject matter of their petitions and reliefs sought are different.
The LP candidate’s petition was brought against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his deputy, Obafemi Hazmat, who were both declared winners of the March 18 election, as well as their party, the APC.
In Adediran’s petition, he and his party are the petitioners, while the respondents are INEC, Messrs. Sanwo-Olu and Hazmat, the APC, as well as Rhodes-Vivour and his party.
The tribunal also ruled that Adediran’s counsel had earlier indicated in the pre-hearing information sheet, Form TF 008 of the Electoral Act 2022, that he didn’t want his action to be considered with that of others.
In the second application which was dismissed, the tribunal held that the LP’s candidate should have sought the leave of the court for extension of time within which to amend his petition, as the 21 days stipulated by the Act within which to file an election petition has since passed.
Other members of the tribunal are Justice Mikail Abdullahi and Justice Igho Braimoh.
Also on Monday, the tribunal reviewed its initial order on the number of witnesses to be called by parties in Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s petition, by allowing the APC, its candidate and that of the LP to present 30 witnesses each. Only INEC said it would limit the number of its witnesses to 10.
The case was postponed till June 13.