The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday described the Supreme Court ruling upholding his victory at the April 11, 2015 governorship election as a welcome development.
Ambode said the people’s mandate, which was expressly demonstrated on Election Day, has been reaffirmed by the highest court in the land.
Ambode’s reaction followed the ruling by the Supreme Court that he was validly elected as proclaimed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The governor was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
His main challenger and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jimi Agbaje, had gone to the Supreme Court to contest Ambode’s election.
This was after the Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal dismissed Agbaje’s claim to the seat.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, the Governor in his reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, said: “The decision of the Supreme Court has put all issues on election matters to rest once and for all.
“Our Government is thus poised without further delay to provide the needed leadership to justify the confidence reposed in us, especially with the ruling coming in the wake of the swearing-in of members of the State Executive Council.”
Governor Ambode also commended the Judiciary for its consistency, saying: “The ruling has further proven the judiciary to be the critical institution that could further deepen our democratic values.
“We have in the last four months embarked on reforms in the judicial and security sectors based on our conviction that these are the fundamental organs on which any government can carry out its duties optimally; we believe this is the way to go, we won’t relent until we achieve our goals to make life more comfortable for our people irrespective of creed or colour.”
It would be recalled that following Governor Ambode’s victory at the April 11, 2015 polls, Agbaje filed a petition at the Election Petitions Tribunal challenging the victory at the polls.
The Tribunal had on July 1 struck out the petition filed against the election of Ambode by Agbaje, following a preliminary objection filed by the counsel to the APC candidate, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).
The Appeal Court also on August 26 upheld the ruling of the State Election Petitions Tribunal and also ordered the PDP candidate to compensate each of the respondents in the sum of N50,000 each.
With the Supreme Court ruling putting to bed the issues surrounding the April 11 elections, Governor Ambode reiterated his call on the opposition to move beyond partisanship and join hands with his administration to move Lagos to the next level.
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