Following the September 9, 2023 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Adebule Idiat Oluranti as the validly elected Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, the road has ended for her challenger, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Adesegun Sunday Adewale a.k.a Aeroland, ROBERT EGBE reports.
Thrice he tried, thrice he failed. Perhaps this epigram sums up the 2023 senatorial ambition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Adesegun Sunday Adewale, aka Aeroland.
This is because Adewale’s three attempts to dislodge Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule as the validly elected senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District at the National Assembly met a brick wall at three levels.
The first level was at the polls.
Adebule, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, was the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the general elections that were held on Saturday, February 25, 2023, for the Lagos West Senatorial seat.
Adewale, a serial contestant, was her challenger from the PDP.
At the close of the elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adebule the winner.
She polled 361,296 votes to defeat her closest rival Adewale, who got 248,653 votes.
Round 2: Off to Tribunal
But Adewale rejected the result, claiming that he won. He and his party headed to the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Lagos.
But on August 4, 2023, the tribunal dismissed their petition.
A three-man panel of the tribunal in a unanimous decision upheld Adebule’s argument that the 1st and 2nd petitioners – Adewale and the PDP – abandoned their petition.
The panel comprised Justice Ashua Ewah (Chairman), Justice Abdullahi Ozegya and Justice M. A. Sambo.
Adewale and his party had approached the tribunal with a petition marked EPT/LAG/SEN/04/2023, seeking to reverse Adebule’s victory as affirmed by INEC.
He listed Adebule, APC and INEC as the 1st to 3rd respondents.
But opposing them, Adebule, through her team of counsel Bolu Agbaje Akadri with Adetokunbo Davies and Chidiogor Ozokwelu, prayed for “an order deeming this petition as abandoned against all the Respondents and striking it out in limine (on or at the threshold; at the very beginning).”
She raised seven grounds for her application. They are:
“By Paragraph 18 (1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), the petitioners are mandated to within seven days after the filing and service of the Respondent’s reply apply for the issuance of pre-hearing notice in Form TF 007.
“The Applicant herein filed its reply to the petition on May 5, 2023.
“In response to the Applicant’s reply, the Petitioners filed their reply on May 10, 2023 and contemporaneously issued prehearing notice TF007 on the same day.
“The Petitioners’ reply was not served on the Applicant until May 25, 2023 when the petition came up before the tribunal.
“By the clear provision of Paragraph 18 (1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), the Petitioner can only issue Form TF007 within seven days after the filing and service of their reply to the Applicant’s reply.
“By issuing Form TF007 contemporaneously with the filing of the reply even before same could be served on the Applicant, the Form TFO07 issued was premature and liable to be struck out and a fortiori, the petition is deemed abandoned.
“That in the circumstances, this Honourable Tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the Petitioners’ petition because same is deemed abandoned.”
During proceedings on Friday, August 4, 2023, Anjous Joseph Babatunde, Edmund Z Biriomoni with A. A. Egbaereva and Don Akaegbu represented the petitioners.
Osasu Isibor with Adebisi Oridate, Karen Eguasa and Similoluwa Sebiomo were for the 2nd Respondent APC, while G.A. Daniel represented the 3rd Respondent.
The matter was originally slated for adoption of Final Addresses, however, the Tribunal informed parties that having been served with applicable judgments of the Court of Appeal in CA/LAG/EP/SEN/02/2023 and CA/LAG/EP/SEN/03/2023, it would deliver its composite ruling on the Applications of the 1st and 2nd Respondents.
On the issue of abuse of court process and the objection raised by the 1st Respondent that the Petitioners’ written address was improper and against the rules of court as it was more than 10 pages, the Tribunal, in the interest of justice, allowed the petitioners’ written address and moved on to give its decision on the substantive motion.
On the substantive issue, the Tribunal found that the petitioner did not counter germane paragraphs of the Respondents’ affidavit in support of the motion regarding the date of the filling of the application of the Petitioners for issuance of the notice for pre-hearing session.
It held that the argument by the Petitioner that its premature application for a Pre-hearing session was not fatal as to cause the petition to be struck out, was not tenable in the light of sections 18 (3), (4),& (5) of The Electoral Act 2022.
The Tribunal also noted that the Court of Appeal had also concluded that there was no valid pre-hearing application and set aside the pre-hearing session, thus the Tribunal was bound by the decision of the appellate court.
Thus, the Tribunal found that the Petitioners having failed to apply for the issuance of pre-hearing notice, were deemed to have abandoned the Petition.
“The Applications of the 1st and 2nd Respondents succeed on the merit and the Petition is accordingly dismissed having been abandoned by the Petitioners,” the Tribunal held.
‘I never abandoned my petition’
But defeat at the tribunal was not enough for Adewale and he faulted the Tribunal’s decision.
On August 6, 2023, he denied that he abandoned his petition, saying that was “a false narrative,” despite the tribunal’s ruling.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, Adewale said: “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, 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.”
He described the tribunal’s judgment as “a surprise,” saying he was sure of victory on appeal.
Adewale added: “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 who 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.”
His Lead Counsel, Edmund Biriomoni, added that on August 4, the tribunal 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, according to him, 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 for 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 a 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,” Biriomoni added.
Round three: Adebule is thrice winner
But things did not go as planned for the challenger and, for the third time, Sen Adebule trounced Adewale.
On September 9, 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja affirmed Adebule as the validly elected senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
A statement by her media team stated that a three-man panel of the court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed Adewale and the PDP’s petition.
The appellate court upheld the August 8, 2023 judgment of the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lagos that dismissed Adewale’s petition seeking to nullify Adebule’s victory in the February 25 election.
The justices, in APPEAL NO: CA/LAG/ EPT/SEN/LAG/04/2023- ADEWALE SEGUN SUNDAY & ANOR VS ADEBULE IDIAT OLURANTI & 2 ORS which lead judgment was delivered by Justice Oluwayemisi E. Williams-Dawodu, dismissed the appeal as being frivolous and unmeritorious.
The statement added: “With this decision of the Court of Appeal, the People’s Democratic Party and its candidate Mr. Adewale Adesegun Sunday aka Aeroland have reached the end of the road in their quest to reclaim a mandate they were never given by the good people of Lagos West Senatorial District.
“H.E Senator Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule ‘Mama West’ as she is fondly called by her constituents, is now more than ever positioned to continue to serve and bring dividends of democracy to the good people of Lagos West Senatorial District.”
