The Appeal Court in Lagos sitting in Igbosere has dismissed a petition against the victory of Amuwo Odofin constituency ll Lagos State House of Assembly member, Hon. Olawale Rauf Age-Sulaiman, filed by Hon. Akeem Bello, a former Lagos State House of Assembly member, who also represented Amuwo Odofin constituency ll and an aspirant during the house of assembly primaries election, under the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC).
Akeem Bello, after the primary elections had filed a suit at the Federal High Court Lagos, seeking the court to declare him as the winner of the state assembly APC primary election which held in October 2018, on the ground that the results were manipulated by Hon. Wale Rauf and his supporters.
The petition was on May 10, 2019 dismissed by Justice Faji of a Lagos Federal High Court.
Dissatisfied, Akeem Bello appealed the lower court verdict and prayed the Appeal Court to among others determine whether Hon. Wale Rauf was lawfully elected in accordance to the electoral laws of the land.
He also asked the court to declare the Amuwo Odofin Constituency 02 APC house of assembly primaries elections null and void due to electoral irregularities and results manipulations claiming it was masterminded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Wale Rauf .
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He prayed the court to declare him winner as he claimed to have been the party choice and not Wale Rauf. He also claimed this was in violation of the mandatory provisions of the electoral laws 2010 as amended.
Justice Kolawole, who read the lead judgement, dismissed the case against Hon. Wale Rauf on the ground that the petition lacked diligent prosecution. The three-man panel was unanimous in its decision dismissing the appeal for being statute barred.
The appellant was also fined the sum of N150,000 for unlawfully wasting the court and the defendants time.
Reacting to the judgment, the Director-General, Wale Rauf Campaign Organisation, Alhaji Adeyemi Muideen Adeyanju, described the ruling as brilliant and noted that the judgment couldn’t have gone otherwise.
Also reacting to the judgment, Hon Wale Rauf counsel, Barrister Oladele Gbadeyan, said the petition lacked diligent prosecution and commonsense
Member-elect, Hon. Wale Rauf, in his reaction thanked God Almighty for the ruling and also extended olive branch to his opponent Akeem Bello asking him to join in working for the development of Amuwo Odofin Constituency II. “I want to use this medium to appeal to my brother Akeem Bello and his followers to join hands with me to bring the needed development to our constituency.”
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