By Oluwatope Lawanson/Moji Eniola
Ikeja – Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday said that he was confident of victory at the Lagos State Gubernatorial Electoral Petition Tribunal.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sanwo-Olu expressed the optimism when he came to the tribunal sitting at the Ikeja High Court Complex, to sign a response to two petitions challenging his victory at the March 9 governorship poll.
The petitions were filed by Chief Owolabi Salis of the Alliance for Democracy and Prof. Ifagbemi Awamaridi of the Labour Party.
Sanwo-Olu arrived at the premises at 11.14a.m. alongside the Deputy Governor-elect, Mr Obafemi Hamzat.
After the signing, the governor-elect told NAN: “What we came here to do is to put an official deposition to the challenge by two gubernatorial candidates.
“We are certainly confident because Lagosians have spoken, the people went out on March 9 to cast their votes.
“It was devoid of any form of incident, there was not one incident reported officially. We trust that the tribunal will do its job well and Lagosians will be happy.”
Sanwo-Olu said that it was the duty of the tribunal to determine if the petitions had any merit.
“It is a process that all of us must submit ourselves to; that is why we are here today, and we are confident that the tribunal will do its job well,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu promised that his administration would undertake judicial reforms for speedy administration of justice.
“Lagos has championed judicial reforms in the last 20 years, and my administration will not be different.
“We will still take bold steps to reform to better the entire process because we understand the importance of the sector,” he said.
Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), the Head of Sanwo-Olu’s legal team, told NAN that he was also confident of victory for the governor-elect at the tribunal.
“We are working based on the facts on ground; we have been able to review the two petitions, and we are not in any kind of doubt that we have sufficient and credible answers to all the allegations in the petitions.
“Until today, his excellency (Sanwo-Olu) was not served any petition. The APC was served but he personally came to the tribunal today to sign for his own process.
“Immediately he signed, he filed a reply. This is to show that we are prepared for these petitions, and we have no problem about the eventual outcome.
“The job of the governor-elect is to defend the election and protect the mandate of the electorate; that is what he came here to do,” Owonikoko said.
