Lagos Guber Election: Gbadebo’s Attempt To Wave Magic Wand Like Gov Duoye Did In Bayelsa Fails As Supreme Court Upholds Gov Sanwo-Olu’s Victory
The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state in the gubernatorial election held in the state on March 18, 2023.
Recall that the governor had earlier at separate times, had his victory upheld by the Lagos state Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who was the Labour Party candidate , had though come second in the election in question, but however attempted to wave the magic wand like Governor Duoye Diri did in Bayelsa state about four years ago.
He had sought to get Sanwo-Olu’s victory annulled through his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the five-member panel of the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justices Lawal Garba and Adamu Jauro on Friday, however okayed Sanwo-Olu’s declaration as winner of the March 18, 2023 , governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .
Recall that the Supreme Court had on February 13 , 2020, invalidated David Lyon’s status as governor-elect of Bayelsa state, barely 24 hours to his inauguration.
Mr Lyon, who had won the November 2019 governorship election, was to be sworn in as governor of Bayelsa state but the PDP guber candidate, Governor Duoye Diri had accused the deputy governor-elect, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo of presenting false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the November 16 governorship election, and having considered his case meritorious, Diri was declared as Governor-elect.
Gbadebo had also argued that the Deputy Governor of Lagos state , Mr Obafemi Hamzat, who has acquired citizenship of the United States of America, is not qualified to contest elective positions in the country, and as such his nomination should be considered as unlawful , null, and void.
He alleged that Obafemi Hamzat, had renounced his citizenship as a Nigerian.
The Supreme Court however ruled that Sanwo-Olu’s deputy is a Nigerian by birth while adding that renunciation of citizenship must be registered by the president of the country once it involves someone who is a citizen by birth , and the appellant had failed to provide evidence to prove this.
The court therefore dismissed the appeal by the Labour Party Candidate for lacking in merit.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who came second, and Abdulazeez Adediran of the PDP , who is popularly called Jandor and had come third had challenged Sanwo-Olu’s victory citing alleged irregularities, malpractices non-compliance as well as non-qualification.
The apex court also dismissed the appeal filed by Mr Abdulazeez Adediran-Team@orientactualmags.com
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