The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Lagos 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.
Following the nullification, 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.
Justice Ashu Ewah and Justice Muhammad Sambo are other members of the panel.
The tribunal hinged its verdict on the fact that the candidate of the Labour Party was not qualified to contest the elections.
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.
