The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has granted Mr. Gbadegbo Rhodes-Vivour's ex parte request for a substituted service on Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the state. Rhodes-Vivour is the Labour Party's candidate for governor.
By way of his attorney, Mr. Olagbade Benson, Rhodes-Vivour had informed the tribunal that Sanwo-Olu had resisted having the petition served on him by the court's bailiff.
When the court representative arrived at Sanwo-Olu's office to serve him, he claimed that Sanwo-Olu refused to pick up the document from the bailiff.
He requests permission from the court in petition number EPT/LAG/GOV/04/2023 to send the petition and other documents to the governor and his deputy at their official residence in Lagos House, Marina, Lagos, via DHL courier services or any other reputable courier service company.
According to NAN, on April 11, Mr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran, the PDP candidate for governor of Lagos State, and Rhodes-Vivour each separately asked the tribunal to void Sanwo-Olu's reelection and declare them the winners.
The petitioners had contested the results of the Lagos State governor's race on March 18, in which Sanwo-Olu had been declared the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
NAN also states that a total of 48 petitions have been submitted to the Lagos State Election Petition Tribunal regarding the elections held on February 25 and March 11 in 2023.
Rhodes-Vivour outlined three reasons for his petition. He claimed Sanwo-Olu lacked the qualifications to run in the election, was not legitimately chosen with a majority of the valid votes cast, and the election was invalid due to fraud or other violations of the Electoral Act of 2022 and the Constitution.
According to evidence presented in support of his petition, GRV also claims that Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat allowed himself to be nominated as the deputy governorship candidate in violation of the Electoral Act 2020 while still being a citizen of the USA and by renouncing his allegiance to Nigeria.
The petitioner claims that because both men have been declared ineligible, all votes cast for them and the APC have been wasted, and as the candidate with the second-highest number of valid votes cast, he is therefore entitled to be declared the winner of the election.
At the hearing of the petition, Rhodes-Vivour says he will also argue that the presiding officer was mandated to use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the form EC8A to the INEC IReV's portal in real-time and to electronically transmit the results from each polling place directly to the INEC collation system.
He claimed that because there were over 151 results that had been mutilated and significantly altered in violation of INEC's rules under the Electoral Act, doing nothing left room for manipulation of the results by INEC officials.
The LP candidate claims he will rely on videos, pertinent INEC forms, the testimony of experts including forensic examiners, statisticians, data analysts/researchers, information technologists, computer analysts, and many other people and documents in support of his petition. The candidate has a long list of specific locations detailing incidents of voter threats, suppression, disenfranchisement, violence, and irregularities.
Olumide Ayeni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is the one representing Rhodes-Vivour on the list of more than 20 attorneys.