Admin l Tuesday, May 28, 2019
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – The Governorship Electoral Tribunal sitting in Ikeja, Lagos today struck out suit filed by governorship candidate of Alliance for Democracy,(AD) Chief Owolabi Salis and that of his Labour Party(LP) counterpart, Prof. Ifagbemi Awamaridi.
The three man panel, sitting in Ikeja, ruled that the petition filed by the two candidates seeking to stop the inauguration lacked merit and struck out the suit.
In a ruling delivered at on the eve of the swearing-in, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice T. T Asua said that the petition of AD and their gubernatorial candidate lacked merit.
“The main purpose of an interlocutory injunction as rightly argued by the respondents is to preserve the ‘res’ that is the subject matter of the case. In this case, the petitioners have failed to show via their affidavit evidence that the res which is the governorship seat of Lagos State is in danger of being destroyed and has to be preserved by the issuance of the restraining order sought.
“An injunction is only issued to restrain a threatened wrong and not to restrain the performance of a legal right,” he said. Dismissing the application, the Chairman of the Tribunal noted that restraining Sanwo-Olu from being sworn-in as Governor will lead to a chaotic situation in the state.
“To crown it all, restraining the second defendant from being sworn-in as governor of Lagos State when the tenure of the incumbent expires on the 29th of May 2019 creates a vacuum in the governance of Lagos State.
“This throws spanners in the works, causing confusion and leaving the entire Lagos State at the mercy of the first petitioner’s (AD) personal ambition to govern the state. Such an ugly scenario shall not be allowed by this Tribunal. In a final analysis, we hold that this application lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” Justice Asua said.
After the ruling, Mr Tunde Falola, the counsel to the second respondent (Sanwo-Olu) thanked the Tribunal for its decision.
“On behalf of the second respondent, I thank this Tribunal. This decision has prevented the creation of a chaotic atmosphere in Lagos State. We are grateful sir,” Falola said.
The petitioners had based their allegations on pre-election allegations made by the outgoing Govenror of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, that the governor-elect was treated allegedly for mental ailment at the Gbagada General Hospital and that he was also convicted for spending counterfeit US Dollars in the United States.
They had sought a restraining order stopping governor elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu from being sworn in come May 29, 2019 pending determination of the issue. The two candidates were of the view that swearing the governor-elect in would contravene provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Sanwo-Olu has mental issues. We are asking the tribualnal to stob the swearing in by reason of insanity. The constitution said only those who are of sound mind should be made governor. We have information that he was convicted in US for spending fake Dollars. The Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said it, it is well known to the international community, and Lagosians”, he said.
