The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sit­ting at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, on Monday granted the motion ex-parte brought before it by the La­bour Party’s (LP) guberna­torial candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, for a substitut­ed service on the state gover­nor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Rhodes-Vivour had chal­lenged the outcome of the March 18 governorship elec­tion in the state in which the Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner.

At the sitting of the tribu­nal, Rhodes-Vivour and the Labour Party, through their counsel, Mr. Olagbade Benson, pointed out that Sanwo-Olu has been evading service of the petition by the bailiff.

According to Benson, Gov­ernor Sanwo-Olu refused to collect the document from the bailiff when the court official got to his office to serve him.The plaintiff in the pe­tition marked, EPT/LAG/ GOV/04/2023, is praying the court to grant the petitioner/ applicant leave to serve the pe­ition and other processes in the suit on the governor and his deputy through substitutted means by posting same via DHL Courier Services or any other recognised courier ser­vice company to the respon­dent’s official residence at Lagos House, Marina, Lagos. ­

The Labour Party’s (LP) governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has filed a petition before the La­gos Governorship Election Tribunal challenging the re­sults of election held on March 18, 2023.

Similarly, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in their petition stated that the governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, were at the time of the election not qualified to contest the gover­norship election.

The LP’s governorship candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, has filed a petition before the Lagos Governorship Election Tribunal challenging the re­sults of election held on March 18, 2023.