Why Tribunal Sacked Lagos LP Rep and Declared APC Candidate Winner

The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Lagos has nullified the return of the Labour Party (LP) ’s candidate, Seyi Sowunmi as the House of Representatives member for Ojo Federal Constituency in Lagos State.

Instead, the three-man panel led by Justice Abdullahi Ozegya declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Ogunyemi, as the duly elected candidate of the election conducted on February 25, 2023.

The other members of the panel are Justice Ashu Ewah and Justice Muhammad Sambo.

Ogunyemi, a two-term state lawmaker and former secretary of the APC in Lagos, had challenged the declaration of Sowunmi by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the election on the grounds that the respondent was not duly sponsored and qualified to contest the elections under the candidacy of Labour Party for Ojo Federal Constituency.

In its judgment on the petition, the tribunal agreed with the petitioner that the candidate of the Labour Party was not qualified to contest the elections.

It, therefore, declared his votes wasted and held that the second runner up, APC’s Ogunyemi, ought to have been declared winner of Ojo Federal Constituency.