Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor, has described his victory at the state’s election petition tribunal as a “victory for all.”
“It’s a victory for all. We do not want to come out here and say somebody has lost or somebody has won,” he spoke at his office at the Lagos House Alausa, Ikeja, after the judgement was delivered on Monday evening.
The court upheld the return of Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected governor of the state after dismissing the petitions of the governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party.
The duo had challenged the return of Mr Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship election in Lagos conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 18 March.
Adediran has rejected the tribunal’s ruling, but Rhodes-Vivour has yet to make a public statement on the development.
Sanwo-Olu described the verdict as “well thought out and well detailed.”
He urged aggrieved parties to work for the progress of the state.
“I still want to give an opportunity to … all of the candidates that contested with us that if they feel the passion that we have and if they feel truly committed to serving, we could still sit with them and see what way they want to serve the state,” he said.
“The state is big, the challenges are real, the opportunities are boundless and there is every room for everybody to contribute in one form or the other.”
The governor further said that the ruling is an opportunity to “double up and continue to give the real dividend of democracy.”
He added that the “voice of Lagosians has been upheld.”
