The Supreme Court of Nigeria has rejected an appeal from Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the 2023 governorship candidate of the Labour Party, also known as GRV.
Justice Garba Lawal read the lead judgement on Friday, dismissing Rhodes-Vivour’s appeal to nullify Sanwo-Olu’s election over claims that Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, his deputy, was not qualified to run.
The court ruled that Hamzat was duly qualified to contest the election as Sanwo-Olu’s running mate.
Justice Inyang Okoro, Justice Emmanuel Agim, Justice Uwani Abba-aji and Justice Adamu Jauro concurred with the ruling favouring Hamzat and Sanwo-Olu. The justices reportedly described the petition as a gross abuse of the court process.
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A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State in November had also dismissed a suit filed by Abdulazeez Adediran, the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, against the tribunal judgement affirming Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the March 18 Lagos governorship election.
Rhodes-Vivour had claimed that Hamzat renunciated his Nigerian citizenship in the UK in violation of the constitution.
In the court’s view, the allegation was not supported by valid evidence, and it was dismissed.
The Supreme Court will rule on election petitions from five other states. Rulings on Plateau, Kano, Nassarawa, Bauchi and Zamfara State are expected on Friday.