…Strikes Out Both Labour Party and PDP’s Appeals
The Supreme Court has affirmed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected governor of Lagos state.
An eight-member panel of the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 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.
Justice Garba Lawal who read the lead judgment held that the deputy governor was duly qualified to contest the election. “Since the 3rd Respondent (Lagos Deputy Governor) is undisputedly a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he is qualified by law to run for governor and acquisition of American citizenship cannot rob him of that right by Sec 182 CFRN. It is surprising that in spite of the clear provision, a petition can be brought on this. We have to help ourselves to not subject our laws to this. What has happened here is a deliberate attempt to ridicule the provision of s182 CFRN which was deliberately read in isolation. This Petition is a gross abuse of court process”, he ruled
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 citizen by birth, of his citizenship, even if he voluntarily takes up the citizenship of another country.
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