Lagos APC Aspirant Rejects Hamzat As Consensus Candidate, Insists On Governorship Primaries

An aspirant in the Lagos State governorship race on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Jim-Kamal, has rejected the idea of consensus candidacy within the party, insisting that all aspirants must participate in governorship primaries ahead of the 2027 election.

Jim-Kamal stated this in Lagos during the unveiling of his five-point agenda for the state, where he also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the amended Electoral Act into law.

According to him, the amended Electoral Act has strengthened internal democracy within political parties and reduced the dominance of consensus arrangements in candidate selection.

“The Electoral Act vindicated many of us during the last House of Representatives primary election, where some endorsed candidates lost,” he said.

Speaking on the governorship race, the APC aspirant maintained that consensus arrangements often create division and resentment among party members.

“If consensus stands, the deputy governor, Obafemi Hamzat, will not be running from pillar to post seeking support. Consensus breeds bad blood. There is nothing like consensus. We are all going for primaries,” he declared.

Jim-Kamal also announced Abiola Okoya, daughter of businessman Razaq Okoya, as his deputy governorship aspirant.

Unveiling his agenda for Lagos, the governorship hopeful promised automated free education at all levels, free healthcare services, empowerment programmes for women and the elderly, mass housing, improved security, job creation and road infrastructure renewal.

He pledged to reconstruct roads across the state and address traffic congestion through urban renewal and housing development initiatives.

The aspirant also promised mechanised farming and fishing programmes modelled after Norway’s system, alongside plans to eliminate youth unemployment within one year of assuming office.

According to him, unemployed youths registered through local government councils would receive a monthly allowance of N100,000 pending employment, while elderly persons above 60 years and nursing mothers would receive N150,000 monthly support.

He further pledged to establish and enforce old people’s homes across Lagos State.
Jim-Kamal claimed that foreign partners were willing to invest about $50 billion in agriculture and human capital development if he secures the APC governorship ticket and wins the election.

“We have the manpower and the team. I know how to source the resources because I am a development expert. Our partners are ready to invest in rice farming and coconut production in Badagry,” he said.

The governorship aspirant stated that his administration would focus on correcting what he described as “the anomalies of the past” in Lagos politics and governance.

Tracing his political career, Jim-Kamal said he began active politics in 1988 when he contested for the chairmanship position under the old Ikeja Local Government as the youngest aspirant at the time.

He added that he later became involved in the formation of a youth movement known as Dynamic Youths, which expanded across the country.

According to him, he had contested for several political offices, including chairman, member of the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate under the defunct Alliance for Democracy and the Peoples Democratic Party before returning to the APC.

Jim-Kamal, who was also the immediate past deputy governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, said his decision to contest the Lagos governorship election was driven by the desire to put things right in Lagos State.