Breaking : Appeal Court upholds Labour Party’s victory in the Lagos Representatives seat.
Today, November 2, at the Court of Appeal in Lagos, the State and National Assembly Appeal Court affirmed the legitimacy of Jesse Okey-Joe Onuakalusi’s (LP) election as the member of the House of Representatives for Constituency ll Oshodi-Isolo, Lagos. Onuakalusi is a member of the Labour Party.
The appeal filed by Ganiyu Johnson, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was dismissed by the court in a unanimous decision, as reported by The Nation.
All of the issues raised by Johnson were pre-election matters, which the court lacked the authority to consider, according to the three-member panel.
Following the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the LP candidate the victor with 29,386 ballots to Johnson’s 16,650 votes.
Following his 2019 election to the APC, Johnson, a former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, has served as the representative for the constituency for the past four years.
Johnson, dissatisfied with the outcomes, lodged the petition against INEC (listed as the first respondent), Onuakalusi and LP (listed as the second and third respondents, respectively).
Johnson submitted a petition that outlined multiple grounds, one of which stated, “That Augustine Chiagozie Matthew emerged as the victor of the primaries of LP on May 28th, 2022.”
“That LP declined to submit the candidature of the aforementioned Augustine Chiagozie Matthew to INEC.”
“That the aforementioned Augustine’s name was not changed or retracted.”
“That the name of Jesse Okey-Joe Onuakalusi does not appear on the LP’s register of members submitted to INEC, given that he was not duly sponsored by the party as a candidate.”
“That the personal information for Onuakalusi as requested in Form EC9 was not submitted prior to the February 25, 2023 elections.”
The petitioner presented a number of documents and summoned three witnesses in support of his case.
The tribunal, in its comprehensive 100-page ruling on the petition, concurred with the second respondent that the challenge to the primaries that yielded the aforementioned Matthew had been resolved by the Federal High Court and the Supreme Court, and thus could not be resurrected in the tribunal.
The membership of the second respondent was deemed a matter of concern by the Tribunal both prior to and following the election.
Furthermore, it was determined that the Secretary of the Okota Ward 3 organisation was more qualified to provide testimony on the matter, given that membership matters have traditionally been considered internal party matters.
