Rhodes-Vivour lied; he was still a PDP member when he joined LP - Jandor fires

The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor) has accused his Labour Party rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of being a registered member of the two political parties prior to the polls in the state.

Jandor in a petition to the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal called for the disqualification of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) for failing to comply with the Electoral Act 2022.

Speaking in a chat on Arise TV on Tuesday, April 11, Jandor listed some reasons why Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party should be disqualified.

Highlighting one of the reasons, he said that the LP candidate was still a member of the PDP at the time he contested the Labour Party primaries.

He said: "Architect Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour claims that he joined Labour Party on the 18th of June under oath, however, the same Architect Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour wrote a letter signed by him on his letterhead to be the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP on the 19th of June."

"On the 22nd of June, the same Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour went to the PDP National Secretariat to be part of a screening exercise to be a Deputy Governorship candidate. And this is somebody that said he joined another party on June 18."

In the suit marked EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023, dated April 7, Jandor and the PDP challenged the outcome of the March 18 governorship election on the grounds of significant non-compliance with the Electoral Law as well as the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission. (INEC).

While INEC is the first respondent, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Labour Party are the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth respondents, respectively.

In addition to failing to comply with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, Adediran and the PDP claim in their petition that, at the time of the March 18, 2023 governorship election, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and Rhodes-Vivour were ineligible to run.