Jandor Testifies At The Tribunal; Insists Sanwo-Olu, Rhodes-Vivour’s Candidacy Was Unlawful

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Candidate, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (JANDOR) on Monday told the Lagos State Election Tribunal that the processes that led to the sponsorship candidacy of the governor-elect, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP)  was unlawful.

JANDOR said this while being cross-examined by the leading counsel for APC, Mr. Muiz Banire, SAN.

He said a party was valid to have sponsored a candidate validly if the section of the electoral act preceded the sponsorship of such a candidate in a general election was strictly adhered to. “Election is a process and not an event.

The process of their nomination that led to the party sponsorship of the candidates is unlawful,” JANDOR said.

He said though he did not work for INEC or WAEC, and also did not attend Ijebu-Ife Community Grammar School where Sanwo-Olu purportedly graduated but he confirmed from the WAEC verification portal to ascertain that the governor lied on oath that he sat for WAEC in 1981.

While being led evidence by his counsel Mr Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN told the tribunal that a private investigation he carried out on the validity of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), on the WAEC result verification portal showed that the governor-elect did not have a certificate.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Chairman of the three-man tribunal committee, Justice Arum Igyen-Ashom, admitted 12 documents that JANDOR tendered through his counsel into evidence.

One of the documents was the printout from the WAEC Result verification portal carried out by the PDP governorship candidate dated to invalidate that Sanwo-Olu had WAEC results.

The witness, while being questioned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mr. Adetunji Oyeyipo, said that he bought a WAEC scratch card on the instruction of WAEC to check for Sanwo-Olu’s result on the WAEC portal showed “Result not available for this Candidate in the specified year and Exam diet”.

While under cross-examination by the APC lead counsel, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), he told the tribunal that in his witness on oath paragraph five, he was sponsored by his party.

He confirmed to the court he was not a member of the PDP in 2018 and that he was not declared a winner of the 2023 election because Sanwo-Olu was unlawfully declared.

JANDOR reiterated that he knew the implication of lying on oath.

While being cross-examined by Rhodes-Vivour’s counsel, Mr Uchechukwu Ani, he said he was never a member of LP but he knew that the primary election of the party was held on June 1, 2022, and August 10, 2022, respectively through the document he received from INEC.

According to him, Rhodes-Vivour’s Form EC9 was submitted on August 13, 2022 but had been endorsed on July 4, 2022, before the primary election that produced him as Candidate of the Labour Party.

He said Rhodes-Vivour’s form was not properly sponsored by Law as his Form EC9 was sworn to on the 4th of July, long before he emerged as a candidate of the Labour Party.

JANDOR confirmed to the court while being cross-examined by the counsel for Labour Party, Mr. I.O. Benson that his grouse with the fifth and sixth respondents was not nomination but sponsorship.

Another witness, Mr. Shakiru Apena, the party manager, adopted his statement on oath dated April while testifying before the tribunal.

Apena, while under cross-examination by Banire said that he was briefed on Sanwo-Olu’s WAEC certificate by JANDOR.

“We went to a business center and bought a WAEC scratch card to verify the result. We verified the WAEC result after the election,” he said.

Banire asked if APC complained to the witness that Sanwo-Olu was not sponsored by them.

He said ” I do not have a relationship with APC and I never worked for them.”

“I put it to you that it was the computer system that told you that the second defendant did not attend secondary school,” Banire asked.

“It was not a computer. It was the WAEC result verification portal,” Apena said.

The party manager said Form EC9 was a form designed by INEC for nominees of political parties after a validly conducted primary election to sponsor the nominee in a general election and which was usually forwarded to INEC for documentation.

“As a party manager of PDP, the national chairman and the national secretary were empowered to authenticate the list and sent it to INEC.

The witness, while being cross-examined by the second lead counsel of APC, Mr Babatunde Ogala (SAN) said he was not a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) and that he did not know when the nomination of the second defendant was submitted.

Babatunde Ogala further handed form EC9 of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat to Mr. Apena to confirm if the Oath declaration page of their form EC9 was attached and submitted to INEC.

Mr. Apena confirmed that of Sanwo-Olu and also revealed that of Sanwo-Olu missing in his form EC9.

“The process for the sponsorship candidacy for the third defendant was also null and void,” he said.

The witness further said he had not met one Prof. Fagbemi Awamaridi and that the WAEC certificate of Sanwo-Olu was fraudulently procured while under cross-examination by the second lead counsel of Rhodes-Vivour, Mr. Folashade Benson.

“After going through the WAEC server via scratch card and we could not find the certificate online, we went to Ijebu-Ife Community Grammar School and met with the principal.

“He did not appreciate what we were looking for and at a point, he excused himself and never returned.

“I do not know the principal’s name because he did not give us time to interact with him,” the witness said.

The witness said he was not aware of any suit instituted by his party against Labour Party in Federal High Court, Abuja.

Apena told the tribunal he was the secretary of the elder council, former deputy state chairman for six years, and the chairman of, the disciplinary committee for four years.

He said he had never occupied the position of a ward chairman.

Other members of the tribunal were Justice Mikail Adubulahi and Justice l.P. Braimoh.

The tribunal adjourned until June 21 for continuation of hearing.