Dr. Obafemi Hamzat has emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State ahead of the 2027 election, following the party’s direct primary held across the state yesterday.

Hamzat, who currently serves as deputy governor under Babajide Sanwo-Olu, praised the conduct of the exercise, describing the process as peaceful, transparent and reflective of internal democracy within the APC.

He also commended party members for their turnout and orderly participation during the primary.

The deputy governor beat his main challenger, Lanre Jim-Kamal.

Sanwo-Olu, who openly backed Hamzat’s candidacy, said the direct primary allowed grassroots party members to freely choose their preferred aspirant. The governor described the exercise as calm, inclusive and credible.

Hamzat’s emergence had been widely anticipated after endorsements from key APC structures in Lagos, including the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC).

His candidacy, however, had earlier generated debate within sections of the party, with some aspirants calling for a more competitive contest before the primary.

Apart from Jim-Kamal, others who had shown interest include Babajide Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor and Samuel Mawuyon Àjọṣe widely known as SMA Gold, had stepped down for Hamzat.

Before now, Hamzat had unsuccessfully contested the Lagos APC governorship ticket in 2015 and later stepped down for Sanwo-Olu during the 2018 APC governorship primary, eventually becoming deputy governo

Speaking after casting his vote in his ward in Epe, Hamzat stated that the APC primary was a competition of Ideas, service to the people, and ways to move the state forward, rather than a conflict of interest.

Hamzat added that the aspirants do not need to fight but need to compete for continued development in the state

“It’s a competition of ideas. How do we move our people forward? So we intend to move people forward, to develop the state; we don’t need to fight. As you can see, we are peaceful. So that’s the momentum that we are taking to the election. We are not concerned about fighting,” he said.

While commending the peaceful conduct of the APC primaries across the state,

Dr. Hamzat stated that the turnout and orderliness of party members at the Governorship primary point to a bright future of the party’s internal democracy

According to him, “Thank you very much, so I think first of all we must thank the members of our party for believing in our party. So first of all, I thank all participants for coming out and voting. And the reports we are getting are peaceful across the state. So we are thanking the whole process.”

He added that the peaceful conduct of the primaries across Lagos demonstrates the party’s commitment to building democratic processes, noting that the process is happening across the 45 wards in Lagos, and it is to tell people that the future is bright.

The Deputy Governor stated that the party plans to continue to develop the state, noting that the party will come out with its manifesto, programmes, and come out with what we want to do to improve the state.

“We will tell the people that we understand the history, we understand the geography of our state, and that we are the best party to deliver on progress on the mandate to build the state forward. Build a state that our children and grandchildren can be empowered,” Hamzat concluded.

In his remarks, APC Chairman, Pastor Ojelabi, stated that the APC electoral committee is in Epe to monitor the conduct of the primaries, while commending the conduct of party members since the commencement of the primaries.

In his words, “I stand before you as the chairman of the party to thank all of you, to appreciate you, your commitment towards keeping our democracy and making sure that you continue to support our party. Most importantly, this ward, thank you for your peaceful conduct since the commencement of our party primaries.”

Also speaking, Rtd. General John Temlong, who led the 7-man Governorship Primary Committee from the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) committed, and the party said that the peaceful conduct of the primaries across the state is in line with the guidelines that were given by the National Headquarters of APC, and in line with the electoral law and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He added that what the committee is seeing in Lagos speaks a lot about how democracy has actually taken root, stressing that the act must be commended.

We want it to be a peaceful process. It is you who are giving your mandate to whoever you want to lead you from 2027. And so there is no force from it.

“All we want to see and observe now is to see that you do it according to the rules of the game. We bring all those who are conducting the elections throughout the state, and they have been given the materials to use, and they are supposed to conduct it the way it’s supposed to be done,” said Temlong.

He therefore urged supporters to be orderly, let’s be peaceful, let’s respect the elderly ones and allow them to be in front, and then the strong young men should be behind.

Kayode Eleshin, the Returning Officer noted that both aspirants Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat and Lanre Jim-Kamal had agents present at the venue, but observed that there was no queue behind Jim-Kamal, a situation he said could not be conclusively explained.

He subsequently announced that Dr. Obafemi Kadri Hamzat secured a total of 2,210 votes in Ward A4 at Ansar-u-deen Primary School, Epe local government primary election.

According to him, the total number of registered members for the exercise stood at 2,720, while 2,432 members were accredited to participate in the voting process.

He explained that the 2,210 votes recorded were within the accreditation limit, noting that the shortfall in voter turnout was due to some accredited members leaving the queue after waiting for long hours.

The Returning Officer thereafter formally declared Dr. Obafemi Kadri Hamsat the winner of the primary election under the A4 voting system. (The Nation)

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