Supreme Court affirms Sanwo-Olu as Lagos governor

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected governor of Lagos State, finally putting an end to months of litigations.

The apex court affirmed the election of the incumbent and dismissed the appeals by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, for lacking in merit.

The LP candidate had filed his appeal on the ground that Sanwo-Olu’s running mate in the March 18 governorship election, Obafemi Hamzat, was not qualified as he had renounced his citizenship as a Nigerian.

However, during hearing of the appeal on Friday, the panel of judges held that Hamzat is a Nigerian by birth and as such, was qualified to run in election.

READ ALSO:Tension as Sanwo-Olu, Yusuf, four other govs await fate as S’Court rules in suits seeking to remove them

The court also noted that renouncation of citizenship of a citizen by birth must be registered by the Nigerian president.

In dismissing Rhodes-Vivour’s appeal, the court said he did not provide any evidence to the effect that Hamzat was not a Nigerian citizen.

The apex court also dismissed the appeal of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, saying it also lacked in merit.

Jandor’s ground for appeal was that the name Sanwo-Olu submitted to INEC was different from that contained in his WAEC certificate.

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