Who is Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour? Meet 39-yr-old Lagos LP Guber Candidate

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, popularly known as GRV, is a Nigerian architect, activist, and politician who is contesting as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party for Lagos State in the upcoming 2023 gubernatorial election.

Rhodes-Vivour was born on Lagos Island, where he grew up in Ikeja. He attended Chrisland Primary and Secondary Schools up to JSS3 before proceeding to Paris to complete his secondary education at Ecol Artive Berlin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Nottingham, a master’s degree in the same field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a second master’s degree in Research and Public Policy from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Rhodes-Vivour comes from a family of lawyers. His father is Barrister Olawale Rhodes-Vivour, and his mother is Mrs Nkechi Rhodes-Vivour. His uncle, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and his grandfather was a late judge named Akinwunmi Rhodes-Vivour. Interestingly, he is the great-grandson of Steven Bankole Rhodes, who was the second-ever indigenous judge appointed in Nigeria.

Rhodes-Vivour is also an active activist who has been involved in several social causes. He is the convener of the civil society group, Nigerians Against GMO, which is an Anti-GMO advocacy group fighting against the proliferation of Genetically Modified Foods in Nigeria. He campaigns for the inclusion of history as a subject in Nigerian school curriculums and led a 2,000-man march to the Senate in 2017 to lend a voice to the fight against environmental degradation.

In 2022, Rhodes-Vivour collaborated with WellaHealth to provide free health checks and insurance for one million people in Lagos who have their Voter’s card, in commemoration of World Malaria Day, and to encourage people to get their Voter’s card to enable them to vote in upcoming elections.

Rhodes-Vivour was one of the first beneficiaries of the Not Too Young To Run legislation. In 2017, he contested for the Ikeja Local Government Area chairmanship under the KOWA party but lost to the candidate of the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC).

In 2019, he contested for the Lagos West senatorial district seat under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He came second in the final polls, losing to the incumbent senator and contestant under the erstwhile ruling party APC, Adeola ‘Yayi’ Olamilekanola. Rhodes-Vivour contested the result in court, citing electoral violence and disruptions, but the court deemed that it was not enough and upheld the election of his opponent.

Rhodes-Vivour is married to Dr. Ify Rhodes-Vivour (née Aniebo), a molecular geneticist by profession, who is the daughter of former military administrator to Kogi and Borno states, Augustine Aniebo.