- LP candidate emergence fraudulent, APC, Arambabi insist
- There were infractions, over voting in several polling units, APC
By Adeola Ogunlade
SUNRISE – The House of Representative Tribunal on Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency in Lagos siting at the Lagos High Court 6 in Ikeja led by Justice A. B Abdulahi will today admit the final written address of the counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Lanre Sanusi as they argued their case before the Tribunal against Labour Party Candidate, George Adegeye who won the election.
This is even as Counsel for Sanusi insisted that Adegeye emergence as Labour Party Candidate for the said election was fraudulent and several mutilations and over-voting occurred during the election.
It will be recalled that on the 28th of February, 2023, (INEC) had declared George Adegeye of Labour Party (LP) as winner of Saturday’s House of Representatives election for Amuwo-Odofin Constituency in Lagos State. Adegeye emerged victorious with 46,702 of the valid votes cast to beat Lanre Sanusi of All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 12,946. The incumbent, Oghene Ego of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), managed 5,752 votes.
The counsel to APC Candidate, Abdumaji Oloyede said that certain area of law was trampled upon and the APC candidate believe that some conditions on the emergence of the Labour Party candidate was not done properly. He believe the process that led to Adegeye candidacy was unfair and unconstitutional. The candidate was not qualify to contest in the last general election.
He said that the law allowed three grounds for the petitioner to plead his case which we are exploring. One of the ground is that the said winner was not validly elected. The second ground is to question the validity of the votes that led to the emergence of the winner and the corrupt practice in the said election.
“The election was not done in compliance with the electoral act of 2022 and the qualification of the said winner of the election is fraudulent. We supreme a witness from Labour Party where he testify that the process that led to the emergence of Adegeye did not follow the party’s rule. Even INEC did not at any point did not receive any document (ECA9) in respect of George Adegeye. It has also been established here that the said candidate of the Labour Party emerged from different constituencies as he featured in three constituencies as House of Representative candidate. We are here to established that he can only feature in one constituency”.
“We are not doing anything beyond the provision of Section 134 of the Electoral Act which talks about the qualification of the candidate. We are also challenging the corrupt practices in the said election as it did not comply to the extant laws that guides the election and other irregularities which is capable of bringing a results that does not follow the guidelines of the election. We have issues of over voting. The law is clear on over voting which is when the actual voters outclass the accredited voters and an such, there must be cancellations. There were series of mutilation on the result which are all before the tribunal to do justice”, he said.
Earlier, the Principal Legal Officer of INEC, Nanyak Janfa during cross examination announced that the EC9A form for the LP candidate is missing and not available.
He presented the report from INEC stating that LP conducted primaries that led to the emergence of the candidate in Amuwo-Odofin.
“It is the responsibility of the political party to upload the particulars of their candidates which they intend to sponsor in an election. The upload of this ECA Form often has a timeline . So, what happen is that the particulars of said candidate was not uploaded in the commission’s portal, that is why we do not have it. There is a window for the parties to upload and they did not upload it.. The candidate emerged through the court order and INEC offcourse is bound to obey court orders”
In his words,the subpoena witness brought by The APC, Abayomi Arabambi, the National Secretary of Labour Party gave evidence with several documents that the emergence of the House of Representative, Labour Candidate in Amuwo-Odofn Federal Constituency was fraudulent as the candidate is unknown to the party.
He said that his presence at the court was to clear his name as regards the judgment meted against the Labour Party. Before now, I was the sole proponent in 24 states prior to 2023 general election. In that capacity, I was subpoena to give evidence about certain infractions that led to the emergence of the Labour Party Candidate. I am here to protect my image because I was a sole proponent in that matter.
He noted that the party had taken INEC to court in 24 states compelling the electoral body to include the names of the party candidates in the INEC portal in 2022, adding that the party lost at the High court and then proceed to the Appeal Court.
“Candidates of our party in the build up to the 2023 election were not published initially on INEC portal which led us to go to court and that is why when the matter was going on, Barrister Julius Abure and Peter Obi through Barrister Joe Okey hurriedly put the names of some persons at the court of appeal. They deceive the court of appeal to grant consent that those people that are not our candidate”.
Arabambi, posited that at the point of appealing the judgement, Barrister Julius Abure and Peter Obi through Barrister Joe Okey included 12 names of contestants for different positions in Lagos as against the 15 names that were presented at the High Court in which he was subpoena to.
“I was advised by the former Chairman of Labour Party, Barrister Abure to step down with the case which I initiated at the High Court and that I should allow Barrister Joe Okey to continue with the case at the Appeal Court and the judgement was favourable to the party. The judgement purportedly came out with 27 names as against 15 which I started with in Lagos, and there I realised there was a fraudulent happenings in the party in which I have challenged at the Supreme Court”.
“The infraction happened only in Lagos out of the 24 states where we challenge the High Court judgement. There were names which were not know to me as the sole proponent to the case. Barrister Abure and Peter Obi lied to me. Barrister Joe also find a way to include his name as a candidate.
He stressed that Supreme Court had ruled that I should go back to the High Court and invites every party to the case and those that should suspended should be suspended and those that should be save should be save.
“Those persons indicted by the Supreme Court judgement that committed infractions and were not sponsored by the party included: the Labour Party House of Representative candidate in Amuwo-Odofin, George Adegeye”.