Tribunal upholds Gbajabiamila’s victory

The Lagos State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal had upheld the declaration of Femi Gbajabiamila as the winner of the March 28, 2015 House of Representatives election in the Surulere Federal Constituency 1.

The Justice C.U Anwuka-led three-man tribunal rejected the petition challenging the victory of Gbajabiamila and his party, the All Progressives Congress, in the said election.

Gbajabiamila, who is now the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, had been declared winner of the said election by the Independent National Electoral Commission after polling 21, 715 votes.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tony Ashikodi, who polled 14, 550 votes to emerge the first runner-up, had however headed for the tribunal to challenge Gbajabiamila’s victory.

Ashikodi had alleged irregularities and a breach of the guidelines set out by the INEC for the conduct of the election.

He claimed that Gbajabiamila and his party did not score the highest number of valid votes in the election and should not have been declared winner by INEC.

He also claimed that the number of votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Kalu Onuah, urged the court to declare the election null and void in the circumstance as stipulated by Section 53(2) Electoral Act, 2010.