The Labour Party (LP) candidate Seyi Sowunmi’s reelection as a member of the House of Representatives for the Ojo Federal Constituency in Lagos State has been declared invalid by the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal, which is based in Lagos.
Instead, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Lanre Ogunyemi, was proclaimed the legitimate winner of the election held on February 25, 2023, by the three-person panel headed by Justice Abdullahi Ozegya.
Justice Muhammad Sambo and Justice Ashu Ewah are the other judges.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sowunmi the winner of the contest, but Ogunyemi, a two-term state lawmaker and former secretary of the APC in Lagos, had challenged the decision on the grounds that the respondent was not properly sponsored and qualified to contest the elections under the candidacy of Labour Party for Ojo Federal Constituency.
In its judgment on the petition, the tribunal agreed with the petitioner that the candidate of the Labour Party was not qualified to contest the elections.
It, therefore, declared his votes wasted and held that the second runner up, APC’s Ogunyemi, ought to have been declared winner of Ojo Federal Constituency.