The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved its judgment in the appeals filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), challenging the election victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos State.
The appeals revolve around the certificates submitted by Sanwo-Olu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the governorship election.
The appeals were lodged by the Labour Party and individuals Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Olajide Adediran (Jandor) of the PDP. They sought to overturn the Court of Appeal Lagos Division’s decision affirming Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
The Court of Appeal, led by Justice Yargata Nimpar, unanimously dismissed the appeals for lacking merit. Justice Nimpar stated that Jandor was constitutionally disqualified from challenging the APC primaries that produced Sanwo-Olu, as he was neither an aspirant nor a member of the APC.
Before a five-man panel at the Supreme Court led by Justice Inyang Okoro, the legal teams representing the LP and PDP argued for the governor’s removal, citing non-compliance with the Electoral Act and the alleged failure to secure a majority of lawful votes. They asserted that Sanwo-Olu did not submit his WAEC certificate in Form EC9 to INEC.
In response, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, the counsel to the governor, urged the court to dismiss the appeals, emphasizing that the challenges raised were limited to alleged variations in names on his client’s certificate. Olanipekun argued that previous Supreme Court decisions did not equate name variations with forgery.
Following the presentations, Justice Okoro reserved judgment in the appeals. Sanwo-Olu was declared the winner of the election by INEC with 762,134 votes, while Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor received 312,329 and 62,499 votes, respectively.
