Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Wednesday, cast a long look at Court of Appeal’s judgement that affirmed his victory in the March 18, 2023 governorship poll, and declared that the verdict has buoyed his confidence in the country’s judicial system.
Stating that he never took and will never take the mandate freely given him by Lagosians for granted, Governor Sanwo-Olu said:
“With a sense of humility, I welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal, which ruled today in our favour, thereby validating the position of Lagosians who freely cast their ballots to return my deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and I as Governor and Deputy Governor of our dear state. We do not take it for granted.”
He added that the pronouncements by the appellate court, “like those of the Lagos State Elections Petition Tribunal, have buoyed my confidence in our country’s judicial system.
“The court examined all the issues and did justice to them, without leaving anyone in doubt as to who is the rightful winner of the election.
“Our party, the All Progressives Congress, will continue to maintain its firm belief in the judicial process.
“My deputy and I have satisfied all the constitutional requirements and are now more focused on delivering the democratic dividends to our people.”
Sanwo-Olu said he and his deputy accepted the Appeal Court’s verdict with utmost humility and “with all sense of responsibility” and reiterated his “resolve to impact the lives of Lagos residents positively, regardless of their political persuasion, in line with our THEMES+ development agenda.”
He then extended a hand of fellowship to his opponents in the election, saying: “We urge our opponents to embrace the olive branch and join our sure march to the Greater Lagos that keeps rising by the day.”
The Crest recalls that the appellate court had, on Wednesday, quashed the Labour Party’s petition for lacking in merit and affirmed Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat as Governor and Deputy Governor of Lagos State.
In a unanimous decision, the three-man panel of the appellate court, led by Justice by Justice Yargata Nimpa, upheld the judgment of the election petition tribunal which had earlier affirmed the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The Justice Yargata Nimpa panel confirmed Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, as the validly elected Governor and Deputy Governor of Lagos State respectively.
The Crest also recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had, in March, this year, declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the Lagos gubernatorial poll.
Sanwo-Olu had polled 762,134 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, who scored 312,329 votes, and Abdulazeez Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came a distant third with 62,449 votes.
But not satisfied with the outcome, the LP and PDP candidates approached the Lagos State Election Petitions Tribunal asking it to nullify Sanwo-Olu’s victory. On September 25, 2023, the tribunal thrashed the petitions by Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour.
Not satisfied with the tribunal’s judgement, Jandor, on October 13, 2023, filed 34 grounds of appeal challenging the tribunal’s verdict.
But on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal threw out the Labour Party’s petition for lacking in merit and affirmed Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat as Governor and Deputy Governor of Lagos State.
