Key highlights
- Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour says that results from Labour Party field agents and the situation room show that he won the election.
- He said that the ruling APC and electoral officials are colluding to return Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the election.
- He earlier expressed sadness over confirmed reports of violence and disenfranchisement of voters who only wanted to perform their civic duty.
The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has rejected the results currently being released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the collation centre in the state.
The LP candidate insisted that the results released by the commission do not reflect the wishes of the majority of Lagosians.
This was made known in a statement released by Rhodes-Vivour on Sunday, March 19, 2023, and can be seen on his official Twitter account.
Rhodes-Vivour, who thanked his supporters that came out to vote for him despite all the intimidation, expressed sadness over various confirmed cases of violence and gross disenfranchisement of voters.
Rhodes-Vivour insists Labour Party won the Lagos governorship election
Rhodes-Vivour accused the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and electoral officials of colluding to return the incumbent governor, which he described as a slap to democracy and everyone that came out to vote on Saturday.
The statement from the LP Governorship candidate reads, ‘
- ’Firstly, I would like to thank all Lagosians, especially our supporters for coming out to vote yesterday for us. I’m convinced that with you in our corner, a NEW Nigeria is imminent.
- ‘’However, I am saddened by the confirmed reports of violence and gross disenfranchisement of voters who only wished to perform their civic duty. Attacks on polling units, voters, and our party agents are totally antithetical to what we stand for & what Lagos truly represents.
- ’Collusion between the ruling party and electoral officials to return the candidate of the APC is a slap on the face of democracy and everyone who came out to vote for us on Saturday.
- ’In light of this, I am convinced beyond any doubt that the results being released by INEC do not represent the wishes of the majority of peaceful Lagosians. More so the results from our field agents and situation room indicated that we won this election.
- ‘’I am a champion of the people, we are far from done. Do not lose hope, do not waver. This is not over, we have not come this far to accept outright lies, criminality & falsehoods. A fight for FREEDOM is never easily won.
- ’Every vote cast for me was done in the face of intimidation and risk of personal harm. Every such vote must count. Defending every one of those votes is a sacred duty. I will defend your votes – this is my vow to every LP voter.’’
What you should know
- The results declared so far in 19 out of the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Lagos, show that Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC is leading his closest challenger, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party by over 443,000 votes.
- The APC candidate has scored 736, 171 votes as against the Labour Party which has 292,363 votes with the PDP coming a distant third with 60, 981 votes.