The Inter-Party Advisory Council in Lagos State has urged the candidates of the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party in the March 18, 2023 governorship election, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor, to congratulate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The advice followed the confirmation of the election of Sanwo-Olu by the Supreme Court in a ruling on Friday.
The Supreme Court dismissed the separate appeals by Rhodes-Vivour and Adediran and their parties that challenged Sanwo-Olu’s return as winner of the governorship election held in the state on March 18.
Reacting, Olusegun Mobolaji, the IPAC Chairman in Lagos State, told the News Agency of Nigeria that since the apex court had spoken, both Adediran and Rhodes-Vivour should rejoice with Sanwo-Olu and congratulate him, while waiting for another election.
“If the apex court has given Sanwo-Olu the victory as a deserved winner, let us rejoice and celebrate with him by congratulating the governor,” the IPAC boss said.
He urged all election stakeholders and institutions, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, security and judiciary, to work together to make Nigeria’s democracy better.
Mobolaji said that though the current political and judicial system were not perfect, Nigerians must support the system for it to work for the betterment of the nation.
He said: “The system that we have either way, we have to support it and make sure things work.
“There may be lapses, but we must not start antagonising and condemning our own system.
“We should try to make the system that we have better by working on it.”
The IPAC boss urged the candidates of the Labour Party and PDP to go back to the drawing board and prepare for the 2027 contest.
Mobolaji said that all political parties that would make substantial influence in the 2027 general election in the state should prepare well for the forthcoming local government area elections in the state.
He said: “If the governor’s challengers feel that they can do better than him, let them prove it and start it from the forthcoming grassroots election.
“This time around, the election is being determined more by the electorate rather than any other factors.
“We are getting more and more to that ideal.”
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Advising the governor to be magnanimous in victory by running an all inclusive governance, Mobolaji said no public office is forever, hence the need to be kind to the people to have an enduring legacy.
He said: “Sanwo-Olu is running his second and final term.
“By the time he completes this, he will come down to the people.
“So, the governor must be conscious of this and prepare for it.”
NAN recalls that Rhodes-Vivour and Adediran had approached the apex court to challenge Sanwo-Olu’s victory in the election.
The LP urged the Supreme Court to hold that the March 18 election was marred by irregularities and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
It also added that the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, was not qualified to contest the election.
Similarly, Adediran filed 34 grounds of appeal, asking the apex court to upturn the verdict of the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
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