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 polls.
The state APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, issued the directive on Friday during the inauguration of the party’s Tinubu-Hamzat Campaign Council at the APC secretariat on Acme Road, Ogba, Ikeja.
Ojelabi urged the candidates to cooperate with the campaign council and remain available as the party intensifies its mobilisation ahead of the elections.
“No candidate is allowed to travel outside the country until after the general election,” he said.
He also warned party members against underrating opposition parties, urging them to remain focused and committed to the campaign.
Ojelabi said the party had resolved to work together after disagreements arising from the primaries, stressing the need for unity as the 2027 elections approach.
He urged members of the campaign council to conduct their activities peacefully and avoid hatred, thuggery and violence.
The campaign council is chaired by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, serves as Director-General.
The Lagos APC governorship candidate and Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, used the occasion to defend the records of the President Bola Tinubu administration and the APC government in Lagos.
Hamzat urged party members to campaign on the basis of facts, data and records 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 highlighted infrastructure projects in Lagos, including the state’s rail development, while arguing that the state’s importance to Nigeria’s economy requires continuity in governance.
Hamzat said Lagos contributes 33 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product and argued that the state should not be subjected to what he described as trial and error.
On the 2027 presidential election, Hamzat defended Tinubu’s re-election bid, citing economic reforms, agricultural production, infrastructure development and other measures of the administration.
He also urged APC members to mobilise voters across Lagos, saying the party should target between three and four million votes from the state.
Ojelabi had earlier said the Lagos APC would target five million votes, while cautioning party members not to become complacent.
The chairman said the campaign council had been structured to drive mobilisation across the state and deliver the party’s candidates at the polls.
At the inauguration were several APC leaders, including former Deputy Governor Abiodun Ogunleye, Senators Wasiu Eshilokun, Idiat Adebule and Tokunbo Abiru, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa and his deputy, Monisola Meranda.
Also present were former Finance Minister Wale Edun, former commissioners and other senior party stakeholders.
Obanikoro urged members of the council to put personal grievances behind them and work collectively for the party’s campaign.
“Unity must be our strength,” he said.
The inauguration formally marks the commencement of the Lagos APC’s campaign mobilisation structure ahead of the 2027 general elections.
