Gbadebo Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour, popularly known as GRV, is a Nigerian architect, activist, and politician who was born on March 8, 1983. He is the Labour Party’s (LP) gubernatorial contender for Lagos State in the forthcoming 2023 Lagos State gubernatorial election. [1][2] In the 2019 Nigerian Senate elections in Lagos State, he was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate for the Lagos West senatorial district.
His campaign got traction after the All Progressives Congress (APC) was defeated by the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos during the presidential candidate election.
Rhodes-Vivour is the convener of Nigerians Against GMO, a civil society group working against the proliferation of genetically modified foods in Nigeria. After Monsanto’s assurances that GMOs are safe, their protest grew in 2016, addressing both the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, and the international corporation.
In 2017, he and Nnimmo Bassey spearheaded a 2,000-person march to the Senate to raise awareness about environmental deterioration. He also fights for history to be included in Nigerian school curricula.
WATCH: LP’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour talks Governorship Ambition and Plans for Lagos on “New Age Aspirants”
In recognition of World Malaria Day and to urge individuals to receive their Voter’s card in order to vote in approaching elections, Rhodes-Vivour joined with WellaHealth in 2022 to provide free health checkups and insurance to 1 million people in Lagos who have their Voter’s card.
Here are 10 things you probably do not know about him;
- Gbadebo Patrick Rhodes Vivour was born on the 8th of March 1983 (age 39) in Lagos State, Nigeria.
- Gbadebo attended Nottingham University, where he bagged a degree in Architecture before proceeding for his master’s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston.
- Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is the convener of Nigerians Against GMOs(NAG), an organization that advocates against the authorization or introduction of Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs) into Nigeria.
- He founded Spatial Tectonics and serves on the boards of Alhuda Construction Nigeria and Delta International Commercial City Ltd.
- He is married to Dr Ify Aniebo, PhD, a molecular geneticist.
- He delved into politics in 2007 when he contested for the Ikeja Local Government Chairmanship position under the umbrella of the KOWA party.
- In 2019, he, however, clinched the party ticket to represent Lagos West senatorial district at the national assembly under the PDP. He lost to Senator Adeola Olalekan (Yayi). Gbadebo headed to the tribunal to challenge the result. Citing incidents of widespread violence and discrepancies in the result, he requested a rerun, which wasn’t granted.
- On the 10th of August 2022, Gbadebo emerged as the Labor Party’s aspirant for the Lagos State governor’s upcoming election after decamping from the PDP.
- GBV became more obvious in the public sphere when he criticized the then Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adeshina, for his move to introduce Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs) to the country.
- Gbadebo is a successful architect with vast experience in the field.
