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January 12, 2024 Supreme Court Affirms Sanwo-Olu’s Election, Dismisses LP, PDP’s Appeals

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu from the All-Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor of Lagos State.

In a unanimous judgment by Justices Lawal Garba and Adamu Jauro, the five-member panel affirmed the victory of the APC's candidate in the governorship election held on March 18, 2023, dismissing two separate appeals challenging his win.

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who secured the second position, and Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who came in third, had contested Sanwo-Olu's election, alleging irregularities, malpractices, non-compliance, and non-qualification. They specifically argued that the Deputy Governor's acquisition of U.S. citizenship rendered him ineligible to run for an elective position, thus making his nomination unlawful.

The challengers also contended that the Deputy Governor's alleged unlawful nomination impacted Sanwo-Olu's qualification, urging the court to nullify their participation in the governorship election. However, the tribunal and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals, citing a failure to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court concurred with the concurrent decisions of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, affirming that Sanwo-Olu was duly elected as Governor of Lagos State. Justice Lawal emphasized that acquiring foreign citizenship does not disqualify a citizen by birth from contesting an election. The only circumstance in which a citizen with dual citizenship could lose the right to be elected as governor is by denouncing Nigerian citizenship by birth.

The Apex court ultimately dismissed the two appeals, deeming them to lack merit. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu secured victory with 762,134 votes, defeating his closest rival, Rhodes-Vivour, who garnered 312,329 votes, while Jandor trailed behind in third place with 62,449 votes.

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