At Tribunal, Labour Party agent claims Gov Sanwo-Olu, wife voted with invalid cards

Dayo Israel, a witness, testified in front of the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Tuesday that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his wife, Ibijoke, were permitted to cast their votes in the March 18 governorship election despite holding invalid voter identification.

Israel gave this statement as part of the appeal submitted by the Labour Party candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, to invalidate Governor Sanwo-Olu’s return.

Israel acted as an agent for the Labour Party for Unit 006, Ward 15, Lagos Island Local Government during the election.

The witness testified in court that he saw the card reader show that Sanwo-Olu and his wife had invalid IDs but were still allowed to cast ballots, which he believed to be a breach of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s electoral procedures.

“I observed that the card reader showed their cards to be invalid but Sanwo-Olu and his wife were allowed to cast their votes and this is against INEC’s electoral process,” he said.

Israel, during cross-examination by INEC’s legal representative Charles Edosomwan, said that on election day, APC supporters beat him up.

READ ALSO:At election tribunal, Jandor claims Sanwo-Olu, Rhodes-Vivour’s candidacy ‘unlawful’

He claimed to have recognised them as APC supporters based on their language and stated that they threatened to beat up voters who did not vote for the APC.

He said, “I am not a member of the Labour Party, but I was assigned as an agent. When the APC thugs recognised me as an LP agent, they beat me up. They also said if voters did not vote for APC, they would beat them too.”

Israel continued by saying that he was accosted by four people during the voting process but that he was able to flee, change into a disguise, and then return to watch the vote-counting.

The witness also mentioned instances of repeated voting at the polling place, stating that INEC officials did nothing when they saw the irregularities but were aware of them.

The petition hearing has been postponed until July 3, when proceedings will resume.

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