Lagos: INEC presents Certificate of Return to APC’s Age-Suleiman

The INEC in Lagos State has presented Certificate of Return to Dr Rauf Age-Suleiman, APC candidate, declared valid  winner of the March 18  Amuwo -Odofin  Constituency II House of Assembly poll by the Court  of Appeal.

Prof. Ayobami Salami, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) while presenting the certificate on Wednesday, urged Age-Suleiman to contribute his quota to the development of his constituency and Nigeria as a whole.

Congratulating the lawmaker, Salami prayed God to grant the winner “wisdom to do what is right”.

Speaking, Age-Suleiman, who expressed gratitude to God, constituents and party leaders, described his legal victory both at the House of Assembly Election Tribunal and Court of Appeal as an  act of God.

“Nothing but prayers has made this a possibility. I am happy that I got justice. It is a good thing to ventilate your grievances about an election in court, and we have got back our victory.

“I will continue to do what my constituents want and my commitment is to make my people happy,” Age-Suleiman, who is returning to the house for second-term, said.

Urging his opponents to join him in building and moving the constituency forward, the lawmaker, promised to continue to support the cause of democracy.

He pledged to be dedicated to the welfare of the people while also providing good representation to them.

According to him, he will continue to visit the people where they live and seek their pulses in all his intervention programmes in the constituency.

Age-Suleiman said that he would provide representation to all constituents regardless of political affiliations and faith.

He urged the constituents to retain confidence and trust reposed in him.

Also speaking, Mr Sabitu Abu-Hassan, the APC Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area said that continuity had been of great benefits in the state.

Abu-Hassan said the re-election of Age-Suleiman would bring a great deal of dividends of democracy to the constituency.

He described Age-Suleiman as dedicated and a good listener to the people and the party, saying: “He gives things to people without letting other people  know”.

Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Nov. 17,  sacked the Labour Party’s (LP) Olukayode Doherty and declared APC’s Age-Suleiman winner of the election.

The court upheld an earlier ruling by the House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to present the APC candidate with the certificate of return as the winner of the election.

The court of appeal equally held that the Electoral Act 2022 does not allow a candidate to be declared winner,  if the candidate did not fully participate in the election process.