The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as governor of Lagos State.
The five-member panel struck out two separate petitions filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), and Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who are contesting Sanwo-Olu’s victory in the March 18, 2023, gubernatorial election.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justices Lawal Garba and Adamu Jauro, the five-member panel upheld the decisions of the election petition tribunal and Appeal Court in the state.
Gbadebo and Jandor challenged Sanwol-Olu’s victory on the basis of alleged irregularities, malpractices, non-compliance, and non-qualification.
They had equally argued that the nomination of Obafemi Hamzat, as deputy governor was illegal and void since he is not eligible to run for an elective office after obtaining US citizenship.
Additionally, they contended that because of his purportedly illegal nomination, Sanwo-Olu’s eligibility is affected, and the court ought to invalidate their candidacies for governor.
The two petitions were dismissed by the tribunal and the Court of Appeal in their separate rulings due to the petitioners’ inability to provide evidence supporting their claims.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court stated that it could not find a compelling basis to differ from the concurrent rulings of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which concluded that Sanwo-Olu was duly elected to the office of governor of Lagos State.
In a unanimous ruling, the appeal court determined that the purchase of a foreign national does not prevent any citizen by birth from running for office.
According to Justice Lawal, a dual citizen’s right to run for governor can only be revoked if he renounces his Nigerian citizenship by birth.
The two appeals were dismissed by the supreme court for having no merit.