Rhodes-Vivour, Jandor file petition against Sanwo-Olu, others

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has filed a petition before Lagos Governorship Election Tribunal, challenging the results of the election held on March 18, 2023.

Rhodes-Vivour, in his petition dated April 9, 2023, stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was not qualified to contest the election.

Aside from Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, other respondents in the suit are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat and the APC as first to fourth respondents.

In his petition, the LP candidate said that he was aggrieved with the outcome of the election and the return of the governor (Sanwo-Olu and second respondent) as winner of the election.

Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran (popularly known as Jandor), the Allied People’s Movement (APM) and the Action People’s Party (APP) have petitioned the tribunal.

In the petition marked: EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023, Adediran and the PDP are claiming that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Hamzat, were not qualified to contest the election.

Adediran, therefore, prayed that all votes cast for them in the election be declared wasted.

Jandor also stated that Rhodes-Vivour was at the time of the election also not qualified to contest.

He said he was hinging his prayers on alleged substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Law, as well as the guidelines of INEC.

In the same vein, Allied People’s Movement (APM) in its four grounds of petition stated: “The second respondent (Sanwo-Olu) was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election.

“The election was invalid because of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.