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By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed the appeal filed by the governorship candidates of the Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Olajide Adediran, against the election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The three-man panel led by Justice Yargata Nimpar, in a unanimous decision delivered on Wednesday, affirmed the judgement of the governorship election petitions tribunal that affirmed the victory of Sanwo-Olu as governor of Lagos State in the March 18 election.
Justice Nimpar held that the appellants failed to prove their allegations of forgery and non-qualification against Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat.
“Even though they were all pre-election matters, the appellants still failed to prove them. The appellants came empty-handed and left empty-handed. They merely enjoyed their day in court. Their petition is dismissed,” the judge said.
The court subsequently dismissed the appeals for lacking in merit.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the Lagos State governorship election.
Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who scored 312,329 votes.
Adediran of the PDP came a distant third with 62,449 votes.
On September 25, the Lagos governorship election petitions tribunal dismissed the petitions filed by Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour seeking to nullify the victory of Sanwo-Olu at the poll.
Displeased with the verdict, they approached the appellate court.
