The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has formally opened its campaign for the 2027 governorship and House of Assembly elections, moving the ruling party in Nigeria’s commercial capital from internal organisation into open contest with voters.
The launch, declared by state chairman Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi and reported by Vanguard, carries the slogan “Mandate Must Continue” and rests on a message of continuity. Ojelabi said the party would push mobilisation into all of Lagos State’s 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas, working through wards, traditional institutions, professional bodies, women’s and youth organisations and market associations.
The timing follows the electoral calendar rather than any sudden political shift. The Independent National Electoral Commission fixed September 9, 2026 as the start of campaigning for governorship and State House of Assembly elections, which are scheduled for Saturday, February 6, 2027. Presidential and National Assembly polls come first, on Saturday, January 16, 2027, with those campaigns having opened on August 19, 2026. Those dates are themselves revised. INEC had earlier set February 20 and March 6, 2027, but brought both forward after the repeal of the Electoral Act 2022 and the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026 altered statutory timelines. Under the law, all campaigning must end 24 hours before polling day.
The candidates are already known. Lagos Deputy Governor Kadri Obafemi Hamzat emerged as the APC governorship candidate at a direct primary on May 21, 2026, polling 657,917 votes out of 657,974 accredited, according to returning officer Gen. Jonathan Temlong (retd), with challenger Olanrewaju Jim-Kamal recording one vote. Another aspirant, Samuel Ajose, withdrew before the exercise. Hamzat, a former commissioner under President Bola Tinubu’s administration in Lagos, has served as deputy governor since 2019. His candidacy means Lagos will elect a new governor in 2027, as incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu completes the two terms permitted by the constitution.
On the opposition side, the African Democratic Congress has named Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as its Lagos governorship candidate, with Gbadamosi Babatunde Olalere as running mate, part of a list of candidates the party unveiled across 28 states. Rhodes-Vivour won the ADC primary in May 2026 with 12,948 votes, though the outcome drew objections from some party figures in Lagos, and reporting by The Guardian noted disputes over the figures cited from the exercise. He contested the 2023 governorship election on the Labour Party platform before joining the ADC in September 2025 as part of an opposition coalition effort. The Peoples Democratic Party, which finished third in Lagos in 2023, has faced questions over the pace of its own candidate selection.
The numbers from the last cycle explain why both sides treat Lagos as consequential. INEC records show Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes in the March 18, 2023 governorship election, ahead of Rhodes-Vivour with 312,329 and the PDP’s Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly called Jandor, with 62,449. Sanwo-Olu carried 19 of the state’s 20 local government areas, with Rhodes-Vivour taking Amuwo-Odofin. The Labour Party rejected the result and filed a petition at the governorship election petition tribunal.
Two figures from that election remain the most useful reference points for 2027. The first is scale of opportunity: Lagos had 7,060,195 registered voters in 2023, but only 1,182,620 were accredited on polling day, a turnout of under 17 per cent. Valid votes totalled 1,155,678. In practical terms, the winning candidate secured the state with roughly one vote in nine of those registered. The second is the size of the opposition base. Rhodes-Vivour’s 312,329 votes represented the strongest governorship showing against the APC in Lagos in recent cycles, and much of the strategic conversation ahead of 2027 turns on whether that bloc can be consolidated or expanded on a new platform.
That context sits behind the APC’s stated approach. Ojelabi framed the campaign around continuity, consolidation and further progress, and said the party would rely on its record in government. “We enter this campaign with confidence, a well-established grassroots structure and a clear understanding of the importance of these elections to the continued development of the state,” he said. He also urged internal cohesion: “We are not campaigning merely to participate. We are campaigning to win and continue the work of building a stronger and more prosperous Lagos.”
The chairman further referenced the political tradition associated with President Tinubu, saying his leadership had shaped the evolution of Lagos politics and governance. Ojelabi said the campaign would be issue driven and conducted within electoral law, and appealed to residents who favour continuity to support the party’s candidates. “From Alimosho to Epe, Badagry to Ikorodu, and Lagos Island to Ikeja, our mobilisation machinery will be fully activated to ensure that our message reaches every segment of Lagos,” he said. These are the party’s own characterisations of its record and intentions, not independently verified assessments.
Ojelabi’s own position was renewed earlier in 2026. He was returned as state chairman at the APC state congress in March, having led the chapter since 2021. In August 2026, at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, he set a target of at least three million votes for Tinubu in the presidential election and said the party had set up reconciliation committees across the state’s three senatorial districts, describing the APC’s 2023 presidential performance in Lagos as disappointing.
What remains ahead is procedural but decisive. INEC’s revised schedule allowed for candidate submissions and the publication of final candidate lists in the final quarter of 2026, after which the ballot is fixed. For voters, the practical question raised by the 2023 data is less about which party holds structural advantage in Lagos than about how many of the state’s registered voters turn out to decide it.