The Lagos Governorship Election Tribunal has struck out the petition filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Labour Party (LP) from that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Rhodes-Vivour and Olajide Adediran, aka Jandor, the candidate of the PDP in the 2023 governorship election are challenging the declaration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the poll.
A member of the tribunal’s three-member panel, Justice Mikail Abdullahi, who read some preliminary motions challenging the competence of some aspects of the petition, stated this while delivering judgment on the objections raised by respondents in the matter.
Heavy security earlier stormed the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, where the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was set to deliver judgment on the petitions filed against the election of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
The Labour Party’s candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, had in his petition marked EPT/LAG/GOV/04/2023 dated April 9, 2023, pleaded with the tribunal to nullify Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
According to him, Sanwo-Olu who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not qualified to run in the election.
Rhodes-Vivour argued that Sanwo-Olu’s emergence as the winner “was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election”.
Also, the PDP candidate in his petition argued that Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Hamzat and the Labour Party candidate in the election were not qualified to participate in the election.
