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Sanwo-Olu wins again, as Appeal Court upholds governorship election

 

 The Appeal Court in Lagos has affirmed the judgment of the tribunal, confirming the return of Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat as the Governor and Deputy Governor of Lagos state.

The justices of the court of appeal in a unanimous decision dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lack of merit.

The judgement was delivered by Justice Yargata Nimpa, Justice Samuel Bola and Justice Paul Bassey.

In March, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the Lagos governorship election.

Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his close challenger, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who scored 312,329 votes. Abdulazeez Adediran, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came a distant third with 62,449 votes.

Not satisfied, the LP and PDP candidates approached the Lagos State Election Petitions Tribunal to nullify Sanwo-Olu’s victory.

In its ruling on September 25, the tribunal dismissed Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour’s suit seeking to nullify the victory of Sanwo-Olu at the poll.

Displeased with the verdict, on October 13, Jandor filed 34 grounds of appeal challenging the judgment of the tribunal.

Rhodes-Vivour also filed his own appeal against Sanwo-Olu

Ruling on the appeal on Wednesday, the appellate court dismissed the suit filed by the Labour Party’s governorship candidate for lacking in merit.