In a decisive ruling, the Supreme Court has affirmed the election victory of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. This confirmation follows previous validations by the state tribunal and the Appeal Court.
The crux of the case revolved around the qualification of Sanwo-Olu’s running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, as raised by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party candidate. Rhodes-Vivour argued that Hamzat had renounced his Nigerian citizenship.
The Supreme Court held that Hamzat is a Nigerian by birth and emphasized that the renunciation of citizenship for a citizen by birth requires registration by the Nigerian president. As no evidence of such renunciation was provided, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
Similarly, the appeal by Abdulazeez Adediran (Jandor) of the PDP, who claimed discrepancies between the name Sanwo-Olu submitted to INEC and his WAEC certificate, was deemed “academic” and subsequently dismissed.
With the dismissal of both appeals, Babajide Sanwo-Olu stands affirmed as the duly elected governor of Lagos State. Further details to follow.
