In a unanimous decision delivered by Justices Lawal Garba and Adamu Jauro on Friday, the Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, as the Governor of Lagos State.
The five-member panel dismissed two separate appeals challenging Sanwo-Olu’s victory, thereby confirming his declaration as the winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), securing the second position, and Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who came third, had contested the election results on grounds of alleged irregularities, malpractices, non-compliance, and non-qualification.
Their arguments centered around the assertion that Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, having acquired U.S. citizenship, was not qualified to contest elective positions, making his nomination unlawful, null, and void.
They further claimed that this alleged unlawful nomination affected Sanwo-Olu’s qualification, urging the court to nullify their participation in the governorship election.
However, both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal had previously dismissed the appeals, citing a failure to substantiate the allegations made in their petitions.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court stated that it found no compelling reason to deviate from the consistent decisions of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed Sanwo-Olu’s lawful election as Governor of Lagos State.
Justice Lawal emphasized that the acquisition of foreign nationality does not disqualify a citizen by birth from contesting an election.
The only circumstance where a citizen with dual citizenship loses the right to be elected as governor is if they renounce their Nigerian citizenship by birth.
Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the two appeals, citing a lack of merit. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu secured victory in the APC with 762,134 votes, defeating Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor, who received 312,329 and 62,449 votes, respectively.
Ada Peter
