Lagos 2027: Hamzat’s Head Start, Rhodes-Vivour’s Challenge and the Opposition’s Equation

Obafemi Hamzat starts the 2027 Lagos governorship contest with what appears to be the strongest political machinery behind him. The deputy governor has the backing of the Lagos APC establishment, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and President Bola Tinubu.

Hamzat’s advantage is rooted less in popularity than in his place within Lagos’s political structure. He served as a commissioner during Tinubu’s administration and has been deputy governor since 2019. That experience has given him an established network and a deep understanding of the state’s governing system.

His path to the nomination also avoided a divisive APC primary. The Governance Advisory Council, the influential leadership body of the Lagos APC, adopted Hamzat as its consensus candidate in April 2026. The APC later formally produced him as its candidate.

Yet the race is not entirely settled by the ruling party’s organizational strength. The 2023 election offered the clearest warning against treating APC dominance as invincible. Sanwo-Olu won with 762,134 votes, but Labour’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour secured 312,329, making him the first major opposition candidate in recent Lagos history to seriously threaten the party’s control of the governorship. PDP candidate Olajide Adediran, known as Jandor, received 62,449 votes.

The central question for 2027 is whether Rhodes-Vivour can reproduce or improve on that performance. With several opposition candidates in the field, their ability to consolidate support may prove as important as voters’ preferences. For the APC, Hamzat offers continuity. For the opposition, the challenge is turning a changing political mood into a coalition capable of breaking the party’s long hold on Lagos.