Supreme Court Upholds Sanwo-Olu’s Election as Lagos Governor

The Supreme Court has upheld the victory of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as the Governor of Lagos State.

The court rejected the appeal filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel. The appeals challenging Sanwo-Olu’s election were deemed without merit.

The LP and its candidate had raised concerns about Sanwo-Olu’s eligibility, contending that his deputy and running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, held dual citizenship, having acquired citizenship in the United States of America.

The LP argued that this made Hamzat constitutionally ineligible, thus invalidating Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy.

However, Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, delivering the lead judgment, stated that there was no evidence indicating that Hamzat had renounced his Nigerian citizenship.

The Supreme Court emphasized that there is no law preventing a Nigerian citizen by birth from enjoying their rights and privileges due to acquiring citizenship in another country through naturalization.

The court endorsed the Appeal Court’s decision, which affirmed the tribunal’s judgment that Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat were not disqualified from contesting the governorship election.

Consequently, Rhodes-Vivour’s appeal was dismissed for lacking merit.

Sanwo-Olu secured his re-election as Lagos State governor with a total of 762,134 votes. Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party came in second with 312,329 votes, while Abdul-Azeez Adediran, also known as Jandor, of the People Democratic Party (PDP), finished third with 62,449 votes.