Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial Candidate for Lagos West in last general elections, Otunba Segun Adewale, has said that he never abandoned his petition at the Election Petition Tribunal as stated by the panel in its ruling, expressing his resolve to file an appeal against the Tribunal’s judgement.
Adewale made his stand known on Sunday at his Ikeja office, at a press conference he jointly addressed with his lead counsel, Barr. Desmond Biriomoni, and others in reaction to the ruling of the three-man panel of the tribunal hearing his petition challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Alhaja Idiat Oluranti Adebule.
The Tribunal, sitting in Lagos, in a unanimous decision upheld Adebule’s argument that the 1st and 2nd petitioners, Segun Adewale and the PDP, abandoned their petition. The panel comprised of Justice Ashua Ewah (Chairman), Justice Abdullahi Ozegya and Justice M. A. Sambo.
The PDP candidate dismissed the Tribunal ruling, saying it was wrong for the panel of judges to have ruled that he abandoned the petition he filed before them.
He vowed that the ruling the panel gave on technical ground, which is being circulated in the media, shall be challenged at the Appeal Court, adding that there would be need to return to the tribunal to determine the case before it on its merit.
This was just as he asserted that it was not possible for him to abandon his petition at the Tribunal as, according to him, it was a mandate freely given to him by the people, who were also the ones that were “even funding the litigation.”
“It was a mandate freely given to me by the people, and it is the electorate who are even funding the litigation.
“I read in the newspaper that I have abandoned the petition, me and my lawyers. I have to correct the negative narrative. Me and my lawyers, we never abandoned the petition.
“The petition is on, we have no reason to give up because I won the election. I was robbed and we have evidences to show that we won the election.
“Apart from that, the APC candidate is not qualified academically, there is no reason for me to give up, the narrative portray in those reports published is wrong.The press briefing is called to debunk the news,” he said.
Shedding more light on the development, his lead counsel, Biriomoni, said they would challenge the Tribunal ruling at the Court of Appeal because the judgement came as a shortfall.
According to him, the case will be pursued at the Appeal Court, saying they were in possession of necessary details that would give them victory at the tribunal, but which the judges just refused to look at before it gave the ruling based on technicality.
“We have all necessary details that will give us victory at the Tribunal, but the judges just refused to look at what is on his table and gave the ruling based on technicality,” the lawyer said.
Biriomoni recalled that at a point, the judges said they didn’t file response to the petition filed the respondent and at another point it stated the response was filed too early.
He noted that there was no penalty in the Electoral Act for filling responses early, adding that there was only penalty when filed late as contained in Paragraph 18 (1) and (4) of the Act.
“The technicality the judge based his ruling upon is not in consonance with laws of our land, but we will challenge it.
“There are other steps for us to take which is appealing judgement, whatever grievance we have with the ruling will be taken up at the appellate level. We believe strongly that issues canvassed before the trial Tribunal was not taken into consideration.
“Also, the authorities cited to sway the Tribunal were wrongly applied and this are the issues that have formed the grounds of our foot in court.
“What we are pursuing is justice and we believe that the substantive matter which was dismissed should be heard and determined on its merit, not to be aborted by technicality.
“In this instance, in one breadth, the judge was saying we did not apply. In another breath, he said we filed early,” he stated.
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