BREAKING: Supreme Court affirms Sanwo-Olu’s election as Lagos governor

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) on March 18, 2023, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour challenged the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the governor of Lagos State.

The unanimous judgment of the eight-member panel of Justices of the apex court prepared and delivered by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba held that the lower court was below was right by not disqualifying Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat from contesting the March 18, 2023 governorship election of Lagos state.

“Consequently, this appeal is lacking in merit and it is hereby dismissed, no order as to cost”, Justice Garba held.

The Appellants had prayed the apex court to nullify the declaration of Sanwo-Olu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the valid winner of the governorship election.

Specifically, the LP and its governorship candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, in the notice of appeal they filed on November 26, urged the court to, among other things, determine, whether Sanwo-Olu was qualified to contest the election considering that his deputy and running late, Obafemi Hamzat, has dual citizenship.

The Appellants told the court that the Lagos State deputy governor took the citizenship of the United States of America (USA) and argued that since the deputy governor was constitutionally ineligible to contest the election, it invalidated Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, as well as the APC, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal for want of competence.

Chief Wole Olanipekun, (SAN), who represented both Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Hamzat, noted that both the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, unanimously dismissed the petition by the LP and its candidate as lacking in merit.

He accused the Appellants of deliberately attempting to change the case they presented before the two lower courts.

According to him, whereas the Appellants, at the lower court, contended that the deputy governor renounced his Nigerian citizenship, Olanipekun, said the case before the apex court was changed to the alleged acquisition of US citizenship by the 3rd Respondent (Hamzat).

All the Respondents had argued that the case the Appellants presented before the Supreme Court was at variance with what was pleaded and decided by both the tribunal and the appellate court.

The Respondents told the court that the case of the LP and its candidate was also dismissed on the premise that they failed to prove the allegations in their petition, having produced incompetent witnesses and filed ineffective processes and urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the concurrent findings of the two lower courts on the matter.

Similarly, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in Lagos state, Jide Adediran (Aka Jandor), seeking the nullification of Sanwo-Olu’s election.

In the unanimous judgment read by Justice Adamu Jauro, the eight-member panel of Justices of the apex court held that “The Preliminary objection of the respondents succeeded and the appeal failed and, it is hereby dismissed”.

The PDP and its candidate, in their own appeal, alleged that they were denied a fair hearing by both the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

The Appellants, through their counsel, Mr. Clement Onwenwunor (SAN), maintained that their case was not heard and determined on its merit by the tribunal.

Onwenwunor told the apex court that the case of his clients was that the deputy governor tendered a forged West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate to INEC, in aid of his qualification to contest the election.

He added that a master list that WAEC was subpoenaed to produce before the tribunal, showed that the name on the certificate the deputy governor tendered to INEC was different.

The Appellants argued that such discrepancy was weighty enough to affect the eligibility of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents to participate in the gubernatorial contest.

While all the Respondents asked the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction, they further argued that the appeal was seeking to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under section 22 of its Act, to review evidence that was not considered by the lower courts.

The APC, through its counsel, Mr. Muiz Banire (SAN), argued that the appeal raised pre-election issues that have not only become statute-barred but also lack the locus standing to litigate on.

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