The legal team defending Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party’s nominee for governor of Lagos State in the March 18 election, has stated that their client continues to be the party’s legitimate standard bearer in the state.

Three recent court proceedings filed against Rhodes-candidacy Vivour’s were dismissed, according to Mr. Olagbade Benson, the lead attorney for the client, who spoke to reporters on Monday in Lagos.

Benson led two other attorneys, Uchechukwu Ani and Kemi Afesojaye, in the briefing and pointed out that Ifagbemi Awamaridi, a former LP chairman and contender for governor of Lagos, had falsely claimed to have a strong case against Rhodes-Vivour.

Benson claimed that the affidavit Awamaridi was using to claim that the court had certified him as an official Labour party candidate was false.

He claimed that the affidavit did not accurately reflect the rulings made by the state’s court.

Benson stated that there were two decisions, including those from the Federal High and Appeal Courts, confirming Rhodes-candidacy Vivour’s as the party’s legitimate standard bearer for the election on Saturday.

The attorney said that the Federal Supreme Court had dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party’s lawsuit against Rhodes-Vivour because it lacked validity.

He said, “Anyone going around parading himself as the candidate of the party, aside Rhodes-Vivour, and others alleging cases before the court on the LP candidature are misleading the public.”

He claimed that anyone making such a claim did so because they feared Rhodes-Vivour and thought it would be better to deceive the public, especially the electorate, in the run-up to the March 18 election.

Our attention has been called to an affidavit issued to INEC on August 5, 2022, marked “Affidavit on Non-Withdrawal,” which claimed that Awamaridi had not yet resigned from his position as the Labour Party candidate.

However, Awamaridi later brought a lawsuit against the LP candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, the party, and INEC before the Federal High Court with the case number FHC/ABJ/1463/2022.

“The Federal Supreme Court reviewed the case on December 8 and dismissed it. The judgment is a public record and anyone who is interested may apply for it.

“And he went to the Appellate court since he believed the verdict did not go in his favor.

Then on February 2, 2023, the Appellate Court dismissed Awamaridi’s complaint on the grounds that it had been filed outside of the legal window or in an issue related to an upcoming election.

Moreover, the PDP filed a lawsuit contesting his candidacy, and on December 8, 2022, the Federal High Court dismissed the case. And once the FHC rejected their suit, the opposition party decided not to pursue it, according to Benson.