Says Jandour’s , Rhodes Vivour’s Petitions Lack Merit
By Halimah Olamide
The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the victory of the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the last governorship election in the state.
The apex court dismissed the appeal by the candidate of the Labour Party in the state, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, as lacking merit.
Rhodes-Vivour had anchored his petition against Sanwo-Olu on the ground that his running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, had renounced his citizenship and therefore not qualified to run for office.
The court held that it could not disqualify the APC candidate because of renunciation of his citizenship adding that act by a citizens by birth must be registered by the Nigerian president, adding that the appellant did not provide an evidence to that effect.
“Since the 3rd Respondent (Lagos Deputy Governor) is undisputedly a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he is qualified by law to run for governor and acquisition of American citizenship cannot rob him of that right by Sec 182 CFRN. It is surprising that in spite of the clear provision, a petition can be brought on this. We have to help ourselves to not subject our laws to this. What has happened here is a deliberate attempt to ridicule the provision of s182 CFRN which was deliberately read in isolation. This Petition is a gross abuse of court process,” the court stated in the judgment.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jide Adediran, popularly called Jandour, premised his own petition against Sanwo-Olu on the ground that the name the APC candidate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission is different from the one in his West African Examination Council result.
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