Nigeria 2023: Rhodes-Vivour targets Tinubu’s empire in Lagos

By Eniola Akinkuotu

Posted on Friday, 17 March 2023 17:06
Labour Party governorship candidate for Lagos State Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour poses for a portrait during a meeting with members of his campaign team at his office in Lagos, Nigeria, on March 3, 2023. - The two major defeated candidates in Nigeria's disputed election on Thursday challenged the victory of ruling APC party's Bola Tinubu, with one rival appealing to courts and the other calling the results "a rape of democracy". (Photo by Patrick Meinhardt / AFP)

What does it take to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a governorship election in Lagos? You will need to conquer 57 local council chairmen, outgun 40 state lawmakers, trounce 27 federal lawmakers, outsmart over 50 traditional rulers, overrun an army of transport hooligans, win over a partisan public service and then defeat the sitting governor and a President-elect. Can Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour pull this off? 

Addressing his men at a gathering earlier in the week, transport kingpin, Muslilu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo, a state government appointee who is known for imposing levies on thousands of transport workers across the state, stressed the need to ensure Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC is re-elected on 18 March.

MC Oluomo, who has built a reputation of violence in the state, also had words for the Igbo people who are believed to be supporting the Labour Party in the state. His words were clear: stay home if you will not be voting for the APC.