Tribunal Sacks Labour Party Rep In Lagos, Declares APC Winner

• Lagos Tribunal overturns Seyi Sowunmi’s election, declares APC’s Lanre Ogunyemi winner for Ojo Federal Constituency
• Tribunal finds Sowunmi unqualified, highlighting another setback for Labour Party after Delta State case

The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal in Lagos has overturned the election of Seyi Sowunmi of the Labour Party as a member of the Ojo Federal Constituency.

Honourable Lanre Ogunyemi, former Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the constituency by the court on Thursday.

Ogunyemi had challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration of his Labour Party opponent as election winner.

The three-member panel agreed with the petitioner that the Labour Party’s candidate was not qualified to run in the elections.

As a result, Ogunyemi was declared the winner.

The panel’s members included Chairman Justice Ashu A. Ewah, Justice Abdullahi A. Ozegya, and Justice M. A. Sambo.

This is another setback for the Labour Party, which won 38 House of Representatives seats in the 2023 elections.

Last month, the Delta State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Asaba dismissed Ngozi Okolie, a lawmaker representing Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency in the National Assembly’s lower legislative chamber.

The tribunal declared Okolie and the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Ndudi Elumelu, the February 25 National Assembly election winners.

The three-member tribunal, led by Justice A.Z. Mussa, declared in a 107-page judgment that the LP candidate was wrongfully declared the winner by INEC.

Again, Deputy Speaker Kalu Wins As Tribunal’s Strikes Out AA Petition

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has praised the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, for dismissing the Action Alliance’s (AA) lawsuit challenging his election.

Recall that on Tuesday, the Tribunal rendered an extraordinary decision in Kalu’s favour over the petition submitted by the Labour Party (LP) candidate for the seat of Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State in the February 25, 2023 election.

Chinasa also asked the three-member tribunal, presided over by Justice Samson Paul Gang, to rule Kalu ineligible for the election because of an alleged name-related contradiction.