Lagos Governorship Election: INEC declares Babajide Sanwo-Olu winner as Rhodes-Vivour says he will never congratulate

Key highlights

• Babajide-Sanwo-Olu beat his closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, with 449,805 votes to win the Lagos State Governorship election.
• Governor Sanwo-Olu extended his hand of fellowship, saying that there was no victor, no vanquished.
• Meanwhile, in his reaction to the election results, Rhodes-Vivour described the election as a sham, saying he will never congratulate Governor Sanwo-Olu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Lagos State.

Governor Sanwo-Olu was re-elected for a second term after polling a total of 762,134 votes to beat his closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party who secured 312,329 votes to come second and then Abdul-Azeez Adediran (aka Jandor) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came a distant third with 62,449 votes.

Sanwo-Olu was declared the winner at 1:15 am on Monday by the State Returning Officer, Mrs Adenike, almost 48 hours after the electoral exercise commenced.

Labour Party calls for cancellation of the elections: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the results at the commission’s state collation centre, but not without the Labour Party collation agent condemning the exercise.

The Chairman of the Labour Party in Lagos, Mrs Dayo Ekong, who also acted as its collation agent, urged INEC to cancel the results of the election over electoral malpractices, and irregularities.

Ekong opposed the exercise after the Returning Officer of Eti-Osa Local Government presented the results of the rescheduled elections in 10 units. The Labour Party chairman claimed that a lot of their supporters were killed and disenfranchised amid electoral malpractices across the state during the exercise.

Governor Sanwo-Olu extends the hand of fellowship: Meanwhile, moments after INEC’s declaration, Sanwo-Olu, in his acceptance speech, said Lagosians had made their voices heard. He said:

• “To all of our fellow contestants, we want to salute you for participating in the democratic process, but Lagosians have spoken and have spoken well. They have spoken loudly.
• “Please remember that we’re extending a hand of fellowship to you, no victor, no vanquished. In the true spirit of sportsmanship, if you indeed believe that you want to serve this state, you have an opportunity with us and we will open our doors to listen and to give you a space in this government.”

He also spoke out against the identity politics that became commonplace in the build-up to the elections last Saturday.

• The governor said, “During this campaign, unfortunately, we have seen very divisive rhetoric which is not a definition of who we are.
• “So, Lagosians, we need to come together and further rebuild the capacity, the competence, and the experience that we have in this city. Religion should not divide us, ethnicity will not divide us. Lagos will come out bigger, stronger, and better.”

Rhodes-Vivour refuses to congratulate Governor-elect: Meanwhile, the Governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, said he will never call Governor Sanwo-Olu to congratulate him, describing the election as a sham.

He said the election was highly compromised and violent with entire agents of his party chased away from their polling units. Rhodes-Vivour said:

• ‘’In every clear term, this was a sham of an election, it was compromised, it was an illegality that has not been perpetuated in Lagos since I’ve been born. This is an election where entire agents of a party were chased away from their polling units. This was an election where if you came to vote and you were not the Labour party, they will be beating you.
• ‘’I have had to pay the bill for over 12 people, one was in concoction he just woke up today, one’s leg is completely broken he has to go into surgery and I have been doing this entire morning I cannot even transfer money because I am done transferring just on hospital bills.
• ‘’So I condemn this, I will never call Babajide Sanwo-Olu to congratulate him for this shambolic, this sham of an election. This violence is setting precedence for war in the next election because nobody is going to come into the election believing that they will discuss ideas and issues anymore, because what is it about? It is about who is the most violent.’’

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