From stepping apart for present Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2019 to receiving his principal’s backing seven years later, the All Progressives Congress’ candidate within the February, 2027 governorship ballot within the Centre of Excellence, Dr Obafemi Hamzat’s political journey has come full circle. Raheem Akingbolu reviews.
There is a degree in each political succession when ambition begins to offer strategy to acceptance. In Lagos, that time has more and more become visible round Obafemi Hamzat.
What started as a governorship aspiration has, over a number of months, developed right into a succession story marked by endorsements from the Governor he serves, the APC’s senior management constructions, President Bola Tinubu and a widening circle of political stakeholders.
The sequence issues. In April 2026, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu publicly endorsed his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, for the 2027 governorship. A day later, the Governance Advisory Council, the influential management physique inside the Lagos APC, adopted Hamzat as its consensus aspirant. On April 29, Tinubu endorsed him, whereas former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode subsequently declared his assist.
The course of didn’t finish with endorsements. Hamzat submitted his nomination kinds, handed the occasion’s screening and emerged because the APC’s governorship candidate at its May 21 major. According to the outcome introduced by the occasion, he polled 657,917 votes out of 657,974 accredited voters, whereas his rival, Lanre Jim-Kamal, recorded one vote. Samuel Ajose had withdrawn from the competition earlier than the first.
Taken collectively, the developments present how quickly the succession dialog moved from session to formal occasion nomination. They don’t, nevertheless, quantity to proof that each Lagosian has accepted Hamzat’s candidacy. Rather, they supply a documented image of rising institutional and political assist inside the governing occasion, alongside persevering with efforts to have interaction wider constituencies.
That distinction issues as a result of Hamzat’s political journey is now being considered in opposition to a really particular historic backdrop. Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, no Lagos Deputy Governor has straight succeeded the Governor beneath whom she or he served. The workplace has been occupied by Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, Olufemi Pedro, Abiodun Ogunleye, Sarah Sosan, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and Oluranti Adebule, however none moved straight from the deputy governorship to the governorship.
Hamzat has however already damaged one necessary sample. His re-election alongside Sanwo-Olu in 2023 made him the primary Lagos Deputy Governor of the Fourth Republic to safe two full phrases in workplace. If he completes the present tenure in 2027, he can have served eight consecutive years as deputy governor, a distinction no earlier Lagos deputy governor has achieved since 1999.
That longevity provides the current succession debate an uncommon dimension. Hamzat will not be approaching the governorship from exterior the administration or after a short spell as deputy. He is trying to maneuver straight from the second-highest workplace within the state into the primary, after serving throughout three administrations and spending years inside the equipment of Lagos governance.
His political relationship with Sanwo-Olu provides one other layer. In September 2018, when each males had been looking for the APC governorship ticket, Hamzat stepped down and endorsed Sanwo-Olu. He mentioned on the time that he may vouch for Sanwo-Olu’s integrity and intelligence. He subsequently accepted the position of operating mate, and their joint ticket received the 2019 election.
Seven years later, the positions have successfully reversed. Sanwo-Olu is now the sitting Governor and Hamzat is the candidate looking for to succeed him. More considerably, the Governor has publicly campaigned for his deputy, describing him as match and prepared for the duty and pointing to his expertise and data of Lagos.
In an setting the place succession contests can create stress between a sitting Governor and an formidable deputy, the Sanwo-Olu-Hamzat partnership has introduced a markedly totally different public image. The two have maintained a visibly cooperative relationship and at the moment are showing collectively in assist of Hamzat’s candidacy.
For Hamzat, that relationship additionally represents a reversal of political historical past at a private degree. He as soon as surrendered his personal governorship ambition to strengthen Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy. Today, Sanwo-Olu is utilizing his political authority to assist Hamzat’s try to take the following step.
Beyond the Governor, the GAC endorsement was one other important growth. The council introduced that its members had agreed to assist Hamzat beneath a consensus association, whereas its management disclosed that members had contributed in the direction of the acquisition of his nomination type.
Tinubu’s endorsement adopted nearly instantly. The President’s backing positioned Hamzat’s candidacy inside the broader political structure of the Lagos APC, whereas the following assist expressed by Ambode additional widened the circle of distinguished figures publicly related with his bid.
There had been additionally indicators of assist past the formal endorsement construction. Hamzat launched into consultations with senior occasion figures and stakeholders forward of the occasion’s governorship choice, reflecting an effort to consolidate past the preliminary endorsements.
The withdrawal of Samuel Ajose supplied one other indication of how the interior contest was evolving. Ajose, one of many APC aspirants, withdrew earlier than the first and backed Hamzat, contributing to the consolidation that preceded the formal nomination.
Hamzat’s credentials have additionally been central to the narrative. He obtained a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Ibadan in 1986, an MSc in Crop Processing Engineering in 1988 and a PhD in System Process Engineering from Cranfield University within the United Kingdom in 1992. Before changing into deputy governor, he constructed expertise in each the personal sector and public service.
His public-service document has stretched throughout totally different phases of Lagos politics. He served as Commissioner for Science and Technology from 2005 and was retained beneath the administration of Babatunde Fashola. In 2011, he grew to become Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, a place he held till 2015. He later served as Special Adviser on technical issues to Fashola when the latter grew to become Minister of Power, Works and Housing.
That institutional expertise has develop into an necessary a part of the argument superior by his supporters. Hamzat has spent years inside the coverage and administrative constructions of Lagos, transferring from commissioner to deputy governor and ultimately changing into the governing occasion’s candidate for the state’s highest elective workplace.
That profile shouldn’t be confused with common public acceptance. Lagos stays politically complicated, with totally different pursuits, communities and opposition events able to presenting competing interpretations of the state’s document and its future. Opposition politicians have additionally raised questions on facets of Hamzat’s candidacy. Such claims stay a part of the political contest and must be distinguished from established details about his eligibility.
What might be established is that the governing occasion’s inner course of has produced a transparent final result. Hamzat is not merely an aspirant looking for recognition. He is the APC’s nominated candidate for the 2027 Lagos governorship election, following a course of that moved from session and endorsement to screening and a proper major.
The symbolism of that development is tough to separate from the occasions of 2019. Seven years in the past, Hamzat stood apart for Sanwo-Olu after withdrawing from the governorship contest. In 2026, Sanwo-Olu stood beside Hamzat as his principal, publicly endorsed his ambition and supported his emergence because the APC candidate.
It is that this uncommon political symmetry that provides the current succession debate a lot of its historic weight. Hamzat has already achieved one thing no earlier Lagos Deputy Governor of the Fourth Republic has executed by securing two full phrases. He is now looking for to cross a second barrier that has remained intact since 1999.
The broader significance lies in what his candidacy represents for the Lagos succession system. For greater than twenty years, the deputy governorship has been an necessary place, however it has not served as a direct path to the governorship. Hamzat’s emergence has reopened the query of whether or not that sample is everlasting or whether or not it may be altered.
His rising acceptance, subsequently, is greatest understood not merely as a set of endorsements however as a convergence of relationships constructed over a few years. His service beneath totally different administrations, his partnership with Sanwo-Olu, his standing inside the APC management construction and his engagement with stakeholders have all develop into a part of the narrative surrounding his candidacy.
Yet the historic significance mustn’t obscure the democratic course of forward. Endorsements, consensus preparations and occasion primaries decide the candidate who carries a celebration’s banner. The governorship itself is in the end determined on the election by voters.
For now, nevertheless, the details mark an uncommon second in Lagos political historical past. A Deputy Governor who as soon as stepped apart to assist the person who grew to become his principal is now the governing occasion’s candidate looking for to succeed him. He can be the primary Lagos Deputy Governor of the Fourth Republic to safe two full phrases and the primary serving deputy since 1999 to emerge because the governing occasion’s candidate looking for direct succession to his principal.
The previous barrier stays. What has modified is that, for the primary time since 1999, a Lagos Deputy Governor approaches it with documented backing from his principal, the governing occasion’s senior constructions and a widening community of stakeholders.
Whether that political opening turns into a historic transition is a query the citizens will reply come February, 2027.
