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Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos State, says Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat should have been disqualified from contesting the governorship election over his alleged oath of allegiance to the United States of America.
Rhodes-Vivour stated this on Tuesday during an appearance on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme.
The ADC candidate referenced the controversy that trailed the 2023 election, when Olubusayo Fasidi, an immigration lawyer, testified before the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that Hamzat had applied for US naturalisation and taken an oath of allegiance.
Fasidi had told the tribunal she was invited to explain US immigration law and was not familiar with Nigeria’s constitutional provisions on dual citizenship.
Speaking on the programme, Rhodes-Vivour said his legal team had relied on that issue to challenge Hamzat’s eligibility as running mate to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2023.
“We focused on the fact that this current person that I want to contest for governor, deputy governor, swore an oath of allegiance to another country,” Rhodes-Vivour said.
“Constitutionally, that is one of the number one reasons to dismiss a candidate or dismiss somebody that emerges as the governor.”
He argued that a person holding public office in Nigeria should not simultaneously owe allegiance to another country.
“You cannot swear an oath of allegiance to provide and to be there for that country in anything that you need, and then still be chief secretary of state of another country,” he said.
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The former Labour Party governorship candidate also revisited the 2023 election, alleging it was marred by violence and intimidation.
“I know in detail what happened across the state, across local governments. Now, I cannot accept an election that is not fair. I cannot accept an election that has had people wounded, beaten, stabbed, killed,” he said.
Rhodes-Vivour said Nigerians should elect leaders who are wholly committed to the country, citing his own decision not to take up foreign citizenship despite living and studying abroad.
“I could have had a plan B for my life, aside from Nigeria. But I love Nigeria so much to have a plan B,” he said.
“That’s the only reason why I did not do that. I did not want to give myself any other option apart from Nigeria.”
He added that Hamzat could have publicly renounced any alleged allegiance, citing former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who renounced his US citizenship before becoming prime minister.
“He could have gone and renounced that oath publicly and said just the way the former prime minister Boris Johnson did when he wanted to become prime minister, renounce his oath of allegiance to America or renounce his citizenship of America,” Rhodes-Vivour said.
Hamzat, who is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has since received the backing of President Bola Tinubu for the Lagos governorship election.
