Supreme Court affirms Sanwo-Olu’s election

The Supreme Court in Abuja has affirmed the election of Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State.

In the lead judgment read by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, the panel dismissed the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour in the March 18, 2023 election.

In the main issue for determination, Rhodes-Vivour had contended that Kadri Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos, was not qualified to be sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) having renounced his Nigerian citizenship and taken up that of the US.

However, the court held that there is no credible evidence to show that the deputy governor renounced his Nigerian citizenship.

The court held that no provision in the constitution strips a Nigerian citizen by birth of his citizenship even if he voluntarily takes up the citizenship of another country.

The court also dismissed the appeal filed by Olajide Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor, who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.

The apex court also declined the jurisdiction to entertain the issue of qualification of Governor Sanwo-Olu which was not entertained by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.