Supreme Court affirms Lagos governor Sanwo-Olu’s election

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State at the March 2023 governorship election.

A panel of Justices of the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the governor’s election, after dismissing the separate appeals filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party with their governorship candidates.

Both the PDP candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party had anchored their appeals on their prime argument that Mr Sanwo-Olu’s nomination as a candidate for the election was invalidated by the fact that his running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, was ineligible to run with him because he holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and the United States.

Delivering judgement on the Labour Party’s appeal, Lawal Garba, a member of the Supreme Court panel, held that by virtue of section 177 of the Nigerian constitution a citizen by birth who has attained 35 years of age and has a school certificate is qualified to vie for office of the governor in Nigeria.

A person who is a citizen of Nigeria by birth is clearly entitled to contest any election in Nigeria, Mr Garba said.

He added that no provision in the constitution strips a Nigerian by birth of his citizenship on account of acquiring the citizenship of another country. “I find the Court of Appeal right in affirming the election of the second respondent (Governor Sanwo-Olu.).

“This appeal lacks merit and it is consequently dismissed,” Mr Garba declared.

Other members of the panel consented to the lead decision.

In his consenting opinion, a member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, said, “The Lagos State deputy governor’s declaration of allegiance to the United States does not rob him of his right to vie for elective office in Nigeria as a citizen by birth.”

But the court summarily dismissed the PDP’s appeal.

Adamu Jauro, a member of the Supreme Court panel who delivered the lead decision, said the election petition tribunal which conducted the trial on the case, failed to determine the merit of the petition submitted to it by the party.

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The justice, however, said the Supreme Court could not determine the merit of the appeal because the strict time frame of 180 days within which the petition must be determined had lapsed.

“This appeal is devoid of any merit, and it is accordingly dismissed,” Mr Jauro said.

Other members of the panel consented to the decision.

Mr Sanwo-Olu had earlier won at both the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, with both courts dismissing the cases instituted by his challengers to overturn his victory.