Inside the APC's 2027 Lagos Ticket: How Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat and Princess Damilola Sonayon-James became the team asking to lead Lagos forward.

Over the course of a few weeks in May and June 2026, the shape of Lagos' next governorship race came into focus. Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, the sitting deputy governor, emerged as the All Progressives Congress's consensus candidate for the 2027 election. Weeks later, the party named Princess Damilola Sonayon James as his running mate. And on June 11, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made it official in public, presenting the pair together as the ticket he's asking Lagos to back.

Here's how it came together and why it matters for what comes next.

A Consensus Candidate

Hamzat's path to the top of the ticket began in May 2026, when he secured the APC's governorship nomination through what party officials described as a peaceful and transparent primary process. He entered that race already carrying two decades of institutional knowledge, having served as Commissioner for Science and Technology, Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, and, since 2019, Deputy Governor under Sanwo-Olu. His emergence drew swift backing from major stakeholder groups, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, transport unions, and religious bodies across the state.

Choosing a Running Mate

With a governorship candidate in place, party attention turned to the second half of the ticket. On June 8, Lagos APC Chairman Cornelius Ojelabi announced Princess Damilola Sonayon James as Hamzat's running mate, describing her emergence as the product of extensive consultation among party stakeholders. The party said the decision weighed competence, leadership capacity, grassroots acceptance, party loyalty, and her capacity to contribute to Lagos State's continued development.

Sonayon-James's nomination carried additional weight: it had already received the backing of President Bola Tinubu and the Governance Advisory Council, the APC's apex decision-making body in Lagos State, before it was made public. At the time of her selection, she was serving in the party's Lagos structure, having built her political career from grassroots and women's mobilisation work rather than a direct appointment. Her nomination also made her the first indigene of the Badagry axis ever named to a Lagos State governorship ticket, a detail several outlets noted as significant for a region that has historically had less representation at the state level.

The Public Unveiling

Three days later, Governor Sanwo-Olu made the ticket official beyond the party's internal announcements, presenting Hamzat and Sonayon-James together in a post on his verified X account. He framed the choice as a matter of continuity, writing that the ticket reflects the strength, diversity, and future of Lagos State. He called on APC members, party leaders, and Lagos residents broadly to support the pairing as the state moves toward the 2027 election.

The framing from party leadership, consistently across statements, has centred on three ideas: continuity of the current administration's development agenda, competence drawn from two very different but complementary backgrounds, and a deliberate move toward more inclusive representation, particularly for women and for parts of the state, like Lagos West, that haven't always had a seat closest to the centre of power.

Two Different Paths, One Ticket

What makes this pairing notable isn't just the offices involved, it's how differently each candidate arrived at this point.

Hamzat's record is one of institutional delivery: two decades inside Lagos State government, credited with digitising the state's public service, helping deliver the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, and now serving as the state's second-highest office holder. His candidacy reads as continuity, a known quantity asking voters to extend a trajectory already in motion.

Sonayon-James's path runs in the opposite direction. Born into a royal family in Badagry, she built her political career from the ground up, through party grassroots structures and women's mobilisation, rather than inheriting a role. Professionally, she works in ESG and sustainability risk consulting, a governance lens not commonly represented in Lagos politics. Where Hamzat's story is about sustaining what's already working, hers is about who gets a seat at the table as we advance.

Together, the party has described the combination as a blend of experience and grassroots energy, though how that translates into governance is a claim voters will test over the campaign, not one settled by an announcement.

What This Means for Forward Lagos

A ticket is a starting point, not a finished story. That's exactly where Forward Lagos comes in.

This platform exists to give every Lagosian, wherever they live and whoever they are, a real way into the process of building a Greater Lagos, not as spectators, but as participants. Now that the ticket is set, that work opens up: reading the manifesto for yourself, understanding the vision behind it, and adding your voice to what this state prioritises next. Forward Lagos was built so that governance isn't something that happens to Lagosians; it's something Lagosians help shape, regardless of geography or demography.

The candidates have been named. What Lagos builds from here is still being written, and every resident, professional, and diaspora Lagosian has a place in writing it.

Get to know the ticket: Meet Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat → Meet Princess Damilola Sonayon-James →

Be part of what happens next: Get Involved →

Sources: Premium Times, Vanguard, Daily Post Nigeria, PM News Nigeria, Legit.ng, allAfrica, Naija247news. All accounts of statements and events in this piece are drawn from public reporting current as of June 2026.