Gbadebo Patrick Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour is a Nigerian architect, businessman and politician, and most people in Lagos know him by three letters, GRV.
He was born on 8 March 1983 on Lagos Island, and grew up in Ikeja. He is 43.
His family is one of the most documented in Lagos law.
His father is Barrister Olawale Rhodes-Vivour, his mother is Mrs Nkechi Rhodes-Vivour, a woman of Igbo heritage, and his uncle is Bode Rhodes-Vivour, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
His grandfather, the late Akinwunmi Rhodes-Vivour, was a judge. His great-granduncle, Steven Bankole Rhodes, was the second indigenous judge appointed in Nigeria. His great-great-grandfather, William Vivour, was a wealthy 19th century planter.
He started school at Chrisland in Lagos and left after JSS3 for Paris, where he finished secondary school at École Active Bilingue.
He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Nottingham and a master's in the same field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
He later added a second master's degree, in Research and Public Policy, from the University of Lagos. He did his national youth service in 2008 and finished in 2009.
His working life began in the United Kingdom with Franklin Ellis Architects. Back in Nigeria he worked with SISA, with Kliff Consulting, now Building Partnership CCP, and with Patrick Waheed Architects.
He then founded Spatial Tectonics, a design firm built around cheaper ways of building. He also sits on the boards of Alhuda Construction Nigeria and Delta International Commercial City Ltd.
He is married to Dr Ifeyinwa Rhodes-Vivour, known as Ify, a molecular geneticist and the daughter of Augustine Aniebo, a former military administrator of Kogi and Borno states.
The couple have children. Their names are not in the public record, and he has kept it that way.
Before politics, his voice was mostly on environment and health. He campaigned with Nigerians Against GMO against genetically modified crops, and he spoke often about schools, public health and how Lagos is planned.
His first ballot was in 2017, for chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area, under the KOWA party. He lost.
In 2019 he ran for the Lagos West Senate seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He polled 243,516 votes, about 39 per cent, and lost to Adeola Olamilekan, who polled 323,817. He went to court over it. The court upheld the result.
In 2022 he left the PDP for the Labour Party, and won the party's governorship primary with 111 votes against Moshood Salvador's 102.
Then came 2023, the year the country met him properly. He ran for governor of Lagos and polled 312,329 votes. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress polled 762,134 and won.
GRV took just one local government, Amuwo-Odofin. He said he would not congratulate the winner, and he went to the tribunal.
The loss did not send him home. In April 2025, he was installed as the Obalefun of Lagos, a Yoruba chieftaincy title that speaks of a leader who brings good fortune to his people. He was also initiated into the Eyo Adimu.
In May 2026 he left the Labour Party and joined the African Democratic Congress, and won the party's direct governorship primary.
In September 2026, the ADC named him its Lagos governorship candidate for 2027, with Gbadamosi Babatunde Olalere as his running mate. The governorship election holds on 6 February 2027, and campaigns opened on 9 September 2026.
His message has not changed much in nine years. Lagos, he says, belongs to the people who live in it, and the state should work for them.
He is 43, he is a chief, and he is on the ballot again. The question Lagos will answer in February is simple. Will the crowd that grew in 2023 grow again in 2027.
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Editorial note: The writer of this article does not claim to know Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour personally. The information regarding his background and career, as published on Global News Arena, is based entirely on independent internet research.
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