The moment the APC announced its candidate for the Lagos governorship, Femi Hamzat, a palpable shift occurred across the city. In communities from Oshodi to Mushin, Badagry to Ikorodu, Isolo to Epe, Lagos Island, and others, I have heard the same quiet refrain, not shouted in anger, but whispered with resignation: “Oga Laja, e don be. APC don choose. Na dem own Lagos.”That quiet acceptance pains me more deeply than any political attack.
It reflects a profound sense of inevitability that has taken root after 26 years of uninterrupted control by a single political structure. When a candidate is presented before any vote is cast, before any debate is held, and before the people of Lagos have had their say, the message is unmistakable: YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOTE DOES NOT MATTER. The decision has already been made by the small cabal with sense of entitlement to rule Lagos in perpetuity calling themselves GAC. I refuse to accept this narrative, and I urge every Lagosian to reject it as well.
Twenty-six years of unchallenged power have produced visible consequences in the daily lives of our people. In Ajegunle, over 500,000 residents endure one of the most neglected environments in Africa’s wealthiest city, lacking functional drainage, with streets that turn into rivers during the rainy season, preventing children from attending school. This is the same Lagos that generated ₦661 billion in Internally Generated Revenue in 2023.
In Badagry, one of Nigeria’s oldest and most historically significant towns, development has remained elusive. There is no major hospital, and connectivity to the rest of the state is inadequate. Young people continue to migrate out in search of opportunities that should exist at home.
Communities like Isale Eko, Badia, and Makoko, home to generations of Lagosians, have faced demolitions without adequate resettlement or compensation, all under the banner of “development” that rarely extends to them while prioritising other areas.
In Mushin, Oshodi, and Alimosho, the economic engines of our informal sector grapple with decade-old potholes, public schools with deteriorating infrastructure, and primary health centres lacking basic drugs. These are the neighbourhoods that consistently deliver votes, yet receive the least in return.
Today, over 60% of Lagos residents live in informal settlements. Nearly 40% of our youth are unemployed or underemployed. Rents in mid-range neighbourhoods have doubled in three years, and the price of a bag of rice has risen from ₦22,000 to over ₦70,000. This is not effective governance; it is political inheritance. Lagos is not a throne to be passed down.
Yet 2023 offered compelling evidence that the people of Lagos possess greater power than the political machine acknowledges. In the presidential election, millions of Lagosians, particularly young people, queued for hours and voted against the APC on its own soil, despite documented cases of harassment, intimidation, and irregularities. For the first time in decades, the APC lost the presidential vote in its stronghold.
That outcome was not luck. It was the result of determination, organisation, and a clear desire for change. The same energy nearly transformed the governorship race, however, ahead of 2027, with a better candidate that can be generally acceptable to every Lagosians without any dent, viewed as rallying point for all with no ethnic bias, Lagos will flip away from the APC because that momentum has not vanished; it has been tested, suppressed, and targeted with demoralisation tactics, including the early announcement of a preferred candidate designed to create a sense of inevitability.
Do not surrender to this strategy. Voter apathy is not neutrality; it is complicity. Every unoccupied polling unit becomes a gift to the status quo.
I understand the scepticism born of decades of unfulfilled promises. Instead, I ask you to trust in what you demonstrated in 2023, a passion for a new Lagos, a government of your own, which wont be forced down your thoat by a tiny cabal who feel Lagos is their own inheritance. Trust in yourselves and in the resilience of this city.
Victory is possible, but it requires action: register to vote, collect your Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), know your polling unit, and show up on election day. Refuse to be intimidated. Document every process. With legal teams in every ward/polling units and committed agents at every polling booth, we can ensure transparency and bring an end to the era of votes disappearing overnight.
To the young person in Alimosho weighing whether participation is worth the effort: it is. To the market trader in Oshodi exhausted from daily hustle: this fight is for your livelihood. To families in Badagry watching their children leave: a better future is possible, and they can return. To every Lagosian who has whispered “e don be”: I hear you. But let me assure you, e never be. Not yet.
The APC has chosen its candidate. Now, it is time for the people of Lagos to choose their future. I am Prince Adelaja Adeoye, a proud son of this soil, with deeo root in Ijebu, Awori, and a Lagosian to the core. I am committed to this city, and I stand ready to work with all who believe in a better Lagos.
#LagosForAll #AtuntoEko1.0 #BetterLagosAgenda2027 #Laja4BetterLagos2027
