The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his wife, Ibijoke, voted with invalid voter cards in the March 18 governorship election, one Dayo Israel has revealed.
Israel, a witness, made the revelation when he appeared before the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Tuesday.
Israel’s testimony is part of the petition filed by the Labour Party’s candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, seeking to annual Governor Sanwo-Olu’s return.
He served as an agent for the Labour Party for Unit 006, Ward 15, Lagos Island Local Government.
The witness told the court that he watched the card reader indicating that Sanwo-Olu and his wife had invalid cards, yet they were allowed to vote, which he deemed a violation of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s electoral process.
“I observed that the card reader showed their cards to be invalid but Sanwo-Olu and his wife were allowed to cast their votes and this is against INEC’s electoral process,” he said.
Under cross-examination from counsel to INEC, Charles Edosomwan, Israel alleged that he was beaten up by All Progressives Congress supporters on election day.
He claimed to have recognised them as APC supporters based on their language and stated that they threatened to beat up voters who did not vote for the APC.
He said, “I am not a member of the Labour Party, but I was assigned as an agent. When the APC thugs recognised me as an LP agent, they beat me up. They also said if voters did not vote for APC, they would beat them too.”
Israel stated that four persons attacked him during the voting process, but he managed to escape, changed his clothes to disguise himself, and returned to monitor the vote counting.
The witness also disclosed that there were cases of multiple voting at the polling unit, noting that INEC officials failed to intervene despite witnessing the abnormalities.
The hearing on the petition has been adjourned until July 3, when the proceedings will continue
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