Governorship Poll: Jandor's application is an abuse of court process, says Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat

Barring any last-minute change, the application filed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Abdulazeez Adediran (a.k.a. Jandor), seeking an extension of time to bring more witnesses, will be heard on July 6, 2023,

This development was made known by the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Ikeja, presided over by Justice Arum Ashom who specifically ordered Jandor's lawyer, Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN), to serve the respondents' counsel, adding that counsels should give their responses latest Wednesday.

It would be recalled that Jandor's counsel had in his application dated July 2 and filed on July 4 urged the Tribunal to extend his time to be able to bring more witnesses in the interest of justice and fair hearing.

According to Onwuenwunor (SAN), “The petitioner has the right to bring any application that can sustain this petition, and it is pertinent to this proceedings.

“The petitioner also has the opportunity to be heard and to be further heard by the Tribunal. I did not seek an adjournment, my lords, I only sought direction.

“In the prehearing report, your lordships were magnanimous to give us four days, and the fourth day has not even been spent yet.

“We sought an extension of time in our application today, and no one can constrain your lordship to any particular action”.

Before this time, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through its counsel, Mr Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN) had urged the Tribunal to close Jandor's case.

While arguing that he has not seen any reason for the extension of time as the application was unmerited, Oyeyipo (SAN) said, “It is obvious that until the petitioner gets the answer to what he wants, he will continue to fish for evidence.

“Granting them another day means that the Tribunal will grant us some days to respond, and the Tribunal does not have the luxury of time.

“We urge the court to close the case of the petitioner today”.

Benjamin Nwosu, counsel to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, also aligned with INEC's position that Jandor should close his case.

Nwosu insisted that Paragraph 18 (10) of the Electoral Act could only be modified upon application to the Tribunal.

“There was no application to modify the prehearing report. All applications must be heard during the prehearing session.

“The business of the day is the continuation of hearing, and it should be noted that the petitioners have called all their witnesses, and they do not have any pending applications to call more witnesses.

“What the petitioner is seeking to do is unknown to electoral practice, and the law is right that proceedings in election Tribunal are strictly time-bound.

“We therefore urge your lordships to close the petitioners' case and to discountenance their application as being the abuse of the process of the court”, Nwosu said.

Even on his part, Counsel to All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Norison Quakers (SAN), told the Tribunal that the application was not ripe for hearing.

In his words: “The rule says that the petitioner shall have three days to prove their case and shall not go beyond four days.

“My question is: What is the nature of this application?

“Is it seeking to amend the petition? as the application having been served on us also requires our responses which will take days to respond.

“Our humble application is that this application is not ripe for hearing. We need time to respond, but it must not go beyond today”.

However, Mr Folagbade Benson, lawyer to the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, left it at the discretion of the court.

Benson said, “Lagos is watching, Nigeria is also watching. The petitioner has brought an application and the Tribunal has not heard it.

“I leave it to the discretion of the court”.

Even, the counsel to the LP, Mr Idowu Benson, also left the decision at the discretion of the court.

Justice Ashom had earlier discharged the subpoenaed witness from WAEC after the petitioner's counsel sought to withdraw the subpoena issued by the court.

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