Lagos State Deputy Governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the 2027 election, Obafemi Hamzat, has revealed that he had never met or spoken to his running mate, Damilola Sonayon-James, before she was selected for the position.
Hamzat made the disclosure during the public presentation of Who Is She? at the Syrian Club Event Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos.
He said the decision to nominate Sonayon-James followed consultations within the Lagos APC after President Bola Tinubu directed the state chapter to resolve the issue of the deputy governorship candidate.
According to Hamzat, he proposed that the position should go to a young woman, a suggestion the President endorsed.
“The President called me and said, ‘You guys go and sort it out.’ I said, ‘Sir, I think it should be a female.’ He said, ‘It’s okay.’ I said, ‘It should be young.’ He said, ‘It’s okay,’” Hamzat said.
He explained that the party also considered the state’s zoning arrangement in arriving at its decision.
Hamzat noted that, as he is from Lagos East and the outgoing Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is from Lagos Central, there was an expectation that the deputy governorship slot would be allocated to Lagos West.
He added that he had no prior relationship with Sonayon-James before her emergence as the party’s running mate.
“Until Damilola was chosen, I didn’t know her phone number. I got her phone number from somebody,” he said.
Hamzat said Sonayon-James, the Deputy Women Leader of the Lagos APC and a native of Badagry in Lagos West, was selected on the strength of her competence and suitability for the role.
