The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has directed all its candidates contesting the 2027 general elections not to travel outside Nigeria until after the elections.
The state chairman of the party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, issued the directive on Friday while inaugurating the APC’s campaign council at the party secretariat on Acme Road, Ikeja.
Ojelabi told the candidates to remain available to the campaign structure and work closely with its members as the party begins its mobilisation ahead of the elections.
“To our candidates, cooperate with the campaign council and make yourself available. After today’s inauguration, no candidate is allowed to travel outside the country until after the general elections,” he said.
The chairman also warned APC members against taking the opposition for granted, saying the party would need a coordinated effort to achieve its electoral objectives across Lagos.
He said members of the campaign council had been assigned responsibilities covering the senatorial districts and local government areas, with the emphasis on grassroots mobilisation.
Ojelabi further urged party members to maintain unity despite disagreements that may have followed the APC primaries, saying those differences should not affect the party’s preparations for the general election.
He also appealed for a peaceful campaign, saying political activities should not be allowed to degenerate into hatred, thuggery or violence.
The inauguration brought together several senior APC figures in Lagos, including Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was named chairman of the campaign council’s Advisory Committee, and former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who was appointed Director-General.
The APC governorship candidate and Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, used the occasion to defend the record of the Tinubu administration and the APC government in Lagos.
Hamzat said the party should approach the campaign with confidence and rely on what he described as the administration’s record rather than emotion.
“We don’t want jesters as president, a man who does not know the difference between a loan and borrowing. It is not about emotion; it is about data, about record,” he said.
He also argued that Lagos should not be subjected to what he described as “trial and error”, pointing to the state’s economic importance and infrastructure development.
“33 percent of GDP of Nigeria is from Lagos. Our state is too important to be subjected to trial and error in the hands of those who are struggling to understand the geography and people of Lagos,” Hamzat said.
The APC candidate also claimed that the party could secure between three and four million votes in Lagos, based on the number of registered voters in the state.
On President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, Hamzat said the administration had taken steps he considered significant in addressing economic and security challenges.
“The president has stabilised the economy of Nigeria for the first time. We have £7.9 billion trade surplus with America. It will keep going like that. It is due to agric and uria. Lekki Trade Zone is playing a role,” he said.
Hamzat also cited tax reforms, airport renovation, infrastructure projects and the fight against terrorism and kidnapping as areas where he said the Federal Government had made progress.
He called on APC supporters to mobilise voters for Tinubu as well as the party’s candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives and Lagos State House of Assembly.
Former Deputy Governor Abiodun Ogunleye, speaking on behalf of Governance Advisory Council leader Tajudeen Olusi, also expressed support for Hamzat’s candidacy.
“We have the sign of victory ahead of the poll. The next governor is very competent. He served in various capacities. He is a man of great character. He will not disappoint Lagosians. We have to work properly and cooperatively to achieve victory,” Ogunleye said.
Obanikoro, who is expected to coordinate the campaign council, called for discipline and teamwork among party members. He urged members to put personal disagreements behind them and ensure that their activities complied with the law.
“Unity must be our strength,” he said.
The development comes as APC structures in other states also intensify preparations for the 2027 elections.
In Edo State, the chairman of Esan West Local Government Area, Blessing Ebhodaghe, was recently seen in a video directing commercial drivers at a motor park to wear APC-branded caps or risk being removed from the park. He linked the directive to Governor Monday Okpebholo’s pledge to secure 2.5 million votes for Tinubu in the state.
Ebhodaghe told the drivers that he would not accept the wearing of political materials belonging to opposition parties and subsequently directed the distribution of APC-branded caps at the park.
The Esan West directive has attracted criticism, with questions raised about compelling commercial drivers to display partisan symbols as part of their work at a motor park.
