After the presidential election saw the ‘City Boy’ defeated in his strong hold, all eyes are on Lagos State. Now, the candidate of the Labour Party in the state appears to be sitting on the hot seat.
Three court cases were filed against the candidacy of the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State.
Despite all these, the LP candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, remains the representative of the party in the state, says his legal counsel.
The Lead Counsel to Rhodes-Vivour, Mr Olagbade Benson, said that three court cases instituted against its client’s candidacy were recently struck out.
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Benson, leads two other lawyers, Uchechukwu Ani, and Kemi Afesojaye.
He notes that claims by the former LP governorship candidate and chairman in Lagos, Ifagbemi Awamaridi, that he had a substantive case against Rhodes-Vivour are false.
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Benson says that the affidavit being presented by Awamaridi that he had been certified; authentic Labour party candidate, was fake.
He said the affidavit did not represent the judgments delivered by the court in the state.
“Anyone going around parading himself as the candidate of the party, aside Rhodes-Vivour, and others alleging cases before the court on the LP candidature are misleading the public,” he said
Benson explained that there were two judgments; one from the Federal High and another from Appeal Courts.
“On the 8th of December, the Federal High Court considered the case and struck it out.
“Anyone that is interested can apply for the judgment because it is a public document.
“And because he felt that the judgment did not go in his favour, he headed to the Appeal court.
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“And on February 2nd, 2023, the Appellate court terminated Awamaridi’s case.
“It was terminated based on the act that it was filed out of time allotted by the law or pre-electoral matters.
“Also, the PDP filed a suit challenging his candidature and that matter was struck out at the Federal High Court on December 8th, 2022.
“And the opposition party did not pursue their claim after the FHC struck it out,” Benson said.
These judgements affirm the candidature of Rhodes-Vivour as the bona fide standard bearer of the party for Saturday’s election, the lead counsel says.
Also, the lawyer said the case against Rhodes-Vivour by the PDP had been thrown out by the Federal High Court. The court said it lacked merit.
According to Rhodes-Vivour’s lead counsel, these claims were being made out of fear of his clients’ chances at winning.
