Politics

Sanwo-Olu files defence at Election Petition Tribunal

Published

7 years ago

on

April 23, 2019

By

Editor 1

Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has expressed confidence in retaining his March 9 election victory at Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal in Ikeja.

Sanwo-Olu’s victory is being challenged by the Alliance for Democracy’s Chief Owolabi Salis and Labour Party’s Prof Ifagbemi Awamaridi.

ALSO READ :Osun: Oyetola knows fate Wednesday

Sanwo-Olu, and his Deputy Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, arrived in Ikeja at 11:34am to receive and acknowledge receipt of the AD and LP petitions.

He also filed his response to both petitions.

He said he would defend the mandate of millions of Lagosians at the polls.

“We are very confident of victory,” Sanwo-Olu added.

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Vote-buying remains a major concern One of the strongest warnings from Osun was the continued presence of vote-buying and voter inducement. Yiaga Africa said the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were consistent with its independent statistical projections, but cautioned that this did not remove concerns about the integrity of voters' choices amid reports of vote-buying and inducement. The concern is particularly significant ahead of 2027, when political competition will take place nationwide and involve presidential, National Assembly and state-level contests. The International Republican Institute (IRI), following a pre-election assessment mission conducted in August, identified monetised political competition, election-related violence, insecurity and declining public confidence in INEC among the structural challenges facing the 2027 elections. 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