Tribunal decides APC Senator's fate on September 18th

Lagos West: Tribunal decides APC senator’s fate Sept 18 The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper / 1 hour ago The Lagos State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal has fixed September 18, 2015, to decide the petition emanating from the Lagos West Senatorial District election of March 28, 2015. The Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Segun Adewale, is challenging the declaration of the All Progressive Congress’ candidate, Solomon Adeola, as the winner of the said election. Apart from questioning the eligibility of Adeola to stand for the election, Adewale also claimed that the election was fraught with irregularities and malpractices. He is therefore asking the court to sack Adeola and to declare him as the senator representing Lagos West in the 8th National Assembly. The Justice Sylvanus Oriji led tribunal, on Thursday, fixed September 18, 2015, for judgment after counsel for the parties had moved their final written addresses and canvassed summary arguments. On Thursday, counsel for Adewale and his party, PDP, Dr. Yemi Oke, highlighted invalid nomination, void votes and falsification of results, as three grounds on which the tribunal must nullify the declaration of the APC candidate as the winner of the March 28, 2015 election in the Lagos West Senatorial District. Insisting that the election was marred with irregularities, Oke claimed that the results submitted at the ward levels did not correspond with the number of voters screened with the card reader. He also alleged that election did not hold at all in some wards where Adeola had been declared winner. But counsel for the APC and its candidate, Dr. Muiz Banire, argued that there was nothing in the documents tendered before the tribunal by the PDP and its candidate to establish any of the allegations that they had raised. Banire, who noted that most of the allegations raised by the PDP and its candidate were criminal in nature, said the petitioners had failed to discharge the onus of proof placed on them. According to Banire, the case of the petitioner had failed in as much as, even when they had the opportunity to do so, they failed to call any witness to support their claims. While urging the tribunal to dismiss the petitioners’ case, Banire said despite alleging discrepancies in the number of voters screened and the final result of the election, the PDP and its candidate failed to show any concrete material evidence to establish their claims. He also faulted Adewale for claiming, while testifying before the tribunal, that he did not leave his polling unit but monitored other areas through his agents both at wards, units and local government, saying why was any of such agents not presented to testify. In his own submission, counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. A. Adegoke, followed Banire’s line of argument and urged the court to dismiss the petitioners’ case. After hearing them, the tribunal adjourned for judgment.