On March 18, 2023, the morning of the gubernatorial election, a Twitter user claimed that Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party (LP) candidate in Lagos state, has stepped down in favour of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the incumbent governor of the state and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.
The story, which has been viewed almost 10,000 times, was shared on Twitter and has since been reposted on other social media platforms.
Verification
The CDD Election War Room wrote an explainer, educating the public on the position of the law regarding a candidate stepping down for another on the day of the election or at any time after 90 days before the election, and thus the “step down” of a candidate at a time like this is not legally enforceable.
We also looked into the claim and discovered that there has been no official report from the Labour Party confirming this news.
Furthermore, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who was spotted casting his ballot earlier today, is still referred to by his supporters as the “incoming governor of the state”.
Verdict
The claim that Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the LP has stepped down in favour of the candidate of the APC, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is false.