Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has pledged to prioritise the welfare of weak residents, enhance public infrastructure and construct on the state’s improvement achievements if elected governor in 2027….
Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has pledged to prioritise the welfare of weak residents, enhance public infrastructure and construct on the state’s improvement achievements if elected governor in 2027.
Hamzat made the pledge whereas presenting his imaginative and prescient for Lagos at a political gathering on Friday, the place he formally addressed supporters and social gathering leaders following his emergence because the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate.
He mentioned his ambition was not merely to hunt votes however to earn the belief of Lagos residents by explaining his plans and demonstrating his preparedness to guide the state.
“I stand before you today, not simply to ask for your vote, but to earn your trust, to share my vision for Lagos, to explain what I believe that we must do differently, and to demonstrate why I’m prepared to serve you,” he mentioned.
Hamzat traced his understanding of public service to his childhood, recalling an encounter with former Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, when he was 14.
He mentioned Awolowo had advised him: “A nation rises only when people of honour and ability choose to serve.”
The deputy governor mentioned the phrases had remained with him for many years and influenced his strategy to public service.
He additionally credited his late father, Alhaji Muftau Olatunji Hamzat, who served as Commissioner for Public Transportation below former Lagos Governor Lateef Jakande between 1979 and 1983, with shaping his political values.
Hamzat mentioned his upbringing in Mushin and household connections to Lagos Island gave him an understanding of the on a regular basis challenges dealing with residents.
He recalled studying the significance of useful drainage throughout the wet season and dependable electrical energy to merchants.
According to him, his expertise in authorities has included work on the state’s digital mapping system, residents’ database, roads, bridges and different infrastructure.
Since turning into deputy governor in 2019, he mentioned, his expertise had bolstered his perception that the standard of a society must be measured by the way it treats its most weak members.
“A society is measured by the person at its very edge. The child, the widow, the trader furthest from the centre,” he mentioned.
Hamzat illustrated this with the expertise of a ten-12 months-previous boy he mentioned he helped rescue from beneath a bridge in Oshodi throughout a 2am operation.
He mentioned the kid had run away from residence in one other state as a result of he didn’t really feel secure there.
“At just 10 years old, he has decided that sleeping under a bridge was safer for him than his own bed,” Hamzat mentioned.
He added that the boy had been rescued and was doing nicely, however careworn that many different weak kids nonetheless wanted safety.
The deputy governor additionally mirrored on the deserted metro rail undertaking conceived throughout his father’s time in authorities, saying its eventual completion demonstrated the significance of sustaining lengthy-time period improvement plans.
He mentioned the expertise had taught him that a very powerful legacy of management was finishing tasks that enhance individuals’s lives.
“The time for work is now, and what you finish is what you leave behind,” he mentioned.
Hamzat’s remarks adopted Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement of his succession bid, with the governor describing him as an skilled administrator ready to maintain ongoing tasks and the state’s improvement agenda.
