Lagos State
Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday described the Supreme Court ruling
upholding his victory at the April 11, 2015 governorship election as a welcome
development, saying that the people's mandate which was expressly demonstrated
on Election Day has been reaffirmed by the highest court in the land.
In a
statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. 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 that “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”, the Governor said.
It would be
recalled that following Governor Ambode’s victory at the April 11, 2015 polls,
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje filed a petition
at the Election Petitions Tribunal challenging the victory at the polls.
The Tribunal
had on Wednesday, July 1, struck out the petition filed against the election of
Mr Akinwunmi Ambode of the APC by the PDP candidate, Mr Jimi 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.