Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has recounted how his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, abandoned his ambition to become governor in 2018 after party leaders asked him to step aside in his favour.\n<\/p>\n
Sanwo-Olu said Hamzat had the experience, political backing and public service record to contest the governorship election but agreed to become his running mate about five weeks after withdrawing from the race.\n<\/p>\n
The governor disclosed this in a post shared on his X account on Friday, describing Hamzat\u2019s decision as a rare act of selflessness that he had never forgotten.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in September 2018, Femi Hamzat wanted to be Governor of Lagos State. He had thirteen years of public service under Asiwaju and BRF, with the record and backing to win. Then party leaders asked him to step aside for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a rare man to put down what he wants without nursing a grudge. Femi shook my hand and five weeks later, agreed to run beside me. I have never forgotten that,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Hamzat withdrew from the Lagos governorship race in September 2018 and urged his supporters to vote for Sanwo-Olu in the All Progressives Congress primary.\n<\/p>\n
Reflecting on their working relationship since assuming office in 2019, Sanwo-Olu said he had spent 2,711 days working alongside Hamzat and had never questioned his deputy\u2019s loyalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many states, deputies are kept in reserve. On day one, Femi promised to be the best deputy governor in Lagos history. He kept his word. In seven years, there has not been a single day I wondered whose side he was on. We have had one government, one direction, and one voice,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The governor also credited Hamzat with contributing to the state\u2019s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of major infrastructure projects, including the Blue and Red rail lines and the Lekki Deep Sea Port. <\/p>\n
He said Hamzat\u2019s engineering background enabled him to ask technical questions about projects before their completion, adding that his deputy had been involved in key decisions throughout their administration.\n<\/p>\n
Sanwo-Olu further highlighted Hamzat\u2019s previous public service roles, including his time as commissioner for Science and Technology under former Governor Bola Tinubu and commissioner for Works and Infrastructure under former Governor Babatunde Fashola.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLagos runs on a relay system. The baton is never passed to a runner standing still. You run at full speed inside the exchange zone, together, before the pass. That is how Lagos has been governed for 27 years, from Asiwaju to BRF, to Ambode, to me,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He also cited Hamzat\u2019s involvement in the construction of the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge and the digitisation of government processes in Lagos.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFemi is a deputy governor like no other. He built the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge under Fashola, digitized government under Asiwaju and holds a doctorate in engineering. His father served Lateef Jakande. This is in his blood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sanwo-Olu\u2019s remarks came as Hamzat presented his governorship manifesto, tagged The Lagos PROMISE, ahead of the 2027 governorship election.\n<\/p>\n
The governor described Hamzat\u2019s ambition as the next phase of a leadership transition that began in 1999, urging Lagos residents to support his deputy.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCritics say Lagos keeps choosing from the same pool. I say Lagos trains its people. With major projects underway and a master plan stretching to 2052, this is not the time to experiment.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLagos does not hand the baton to a man standing still. Today, you have seen the man who is already running. Let us move forward together with The Lagos PROMISE,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has recounted how his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, abandoned his ambition to become governor in 2018 after party leaders asked him to step aside in his… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}