The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, in the March 18, 2023 election, while affirming the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of Lagos State.
Rhodes-Vivour, in the main issue for determination, had contended that Kadri Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos, was not qualified to be sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC), having renounced his Nigerian citizenship and taken up that of the US.
However, the lead judgment read by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal held that there is no credible evidence to show that the deputy governor renounced his Nigerian citizenship, adding that there’s no provision in the constitution strips a Nigerian citizen by birth of his citizenship even if he voluntarily takes up the citizenship of another country.
The court also dismissed the appeal filed by Olajide Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.
The Informant247 reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election held in the state, clearing 19 out of the 20 local government areas of the state in the election.
Professor Adenike Oladeji, the INEC Returning Officer, announced in the early hours of Monday that Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who polled 312,329 votes, while Olajide Adeniran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 62,449 votes came third.
The Returning Officer also explained that the total number of registered voters in the state is 7,060,195, but the number of accredited voters for the poll was 1,182,620.
Oladiji, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, said, “I hereby declare that Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, having satisfied the requirements of the law by having 25 per cent of the total of the LGAs of the states and also having the highest number of votes cast and meeting the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner. ”