Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said President Bola Tinubu has endorsed his ambition to succeed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the 2027 election, capping a flurry of support from party elders.
The endorsement came Wednesday after a meeting at the Presidential Villa between Tinubu and the 34-member Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of Lagos State’s All Progressives Congress (APC).
The group, led by the Chairman Governance Avisory Council in the State Prince Tajudeen Olusi, formally presented Hamzat to the president.
“These are fathers, they are leaders… Mr. President has blessed us and blessed the decision of GAC,” Hamzat told State House Correspondents after the closed-door meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He described the governorship as an “audacious” challenge but one for which his tenure as deputy prepares him well.
“I know the room. I know where the kitchen is.”
The visit of the group followed rapid endorsements, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s public backing on Monday and the GAC’s unanimous adoption of Hamzat on Tuesday at Lagos House, where members also pledged to buy his N50million APC nomination form.
The GAC Chairman Olusi dismissed rival aspirants’ objections, calling the choice a “collective agreement.”
He said the party would hold primaries in line with APC rules to uphold internal democracy.
Hamzat, 59, has been deputy governor since 2019 and previously served as Lagos State works commissioner under ex-Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode.
