Follow Us on Google
By Sunday Ani
Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Lagos West Senatorial District, Segun Adewale, has debunked media reports that he abandoned his petition at the election petition tribunal in Lagos.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, yesterday, he wondered how anybody could concoct such a false narrative when he won his opponent, Idiat Oluranti Adegbule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his polling unit, ward and even local government area in the election.
“I have not abandoned my election petition as reported by the Nation Newspaper and other online media. I need to correct that wrong and negative narrative. I never abandoned my petition. Our petition is strong and we have a reason not to give up. We won the election but I was robbed. We have a lot of evidence to prove that we won the election. Apart from that, the APC candidate was not qualified academically, so there was no reason for me to give up. So, the narrative out there is wrong and that is why I am here to debunk it.”
Reacting to the judgment of the tribunal which dismissed his petition, he said: “The judgment came to us as a surprise. The tribunal didn’t say we filed out of time; the judges said we filed too early. It is not fair. I am annoyed when I hear people saying that I have gone to the APC to collect money and abandon my petition. I never collected a dime from the opposition or from anybody apart from the party members that are supporting me in this legal battle.
“We have all the necessary details that will give us victory at the tribunal but the judge just refused to look at what is on his table and decided to rule based on technicalities. Even those technicalities were not in consonance with the law of our nation and we will challenge it.
“So, we didn’t abandon the petition, after all I am not the one sponsoring the petition; it is the people that are paying for the legal expenses, so I cannot just unilaterally abandon the people’s petition.”
Throwing more light on what happened at the tribunal, his Lead Counsel, Edmund Biriomoni, said on August 4, the tribunal in its wisdom dismissed the petition on the ground that having failed to apply for the pre-hearing information sheet Form TA008, which runs contrary to Paragraph 18 (1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022, that the petitioner has abandoned his petition.
He said they were aggrieved by the decision because all the issues canvassed before the tribunal were not taken into consideration. He noted that the authorities cited to sway the tribunal were equally not also taken into consideration, stressing that these were the issues upon which they would approach the appellate court, the Court of Appeal to seek redress.
“We want the court to look at what we have brought before it because all we are pursuing is justice. We believe that the substantive matter which was dismissed should be heard and determined on its merit and not aborted based on technicality. In one breath they said we didn’t apply, in another breath, they said we applied too early. There are no consequences for filling early; the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal have both affirmed that.
“I strongly believe that the Court of Appeal will do justice in the matter. I strongly believe that we will go back to the tribunal for the tribunal to do justice to the petition by hearing and determining the petition on its merit. The petition was never abandoned. The narrative in the media is false,” he stated.
