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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu used a traditional Sallah courtesy visit to President Bola Tinubu on Saturday to deliver a clear message to 40 All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearers for the Lagos State House of Assembly: close ranks and avoid complacency.
Leading the delegation to the President’s Lagos residence, Sanwo-Olu said the candidates — who will contest the state’s 40 constituencies — were reminded that their victories must be pursued under the party umbrella and through collective effort, not individual formations or factions.
“As a candidate of a party, you have everything to ensure that you close ranks,” he told reporters after the visit. “Everybody who has either contested against you. Everybody. And that you need to go and reach every constituent of yourself that you need to go back and go back and go back and convince. So you can see that we’re not; they will not be taking anything for granted. We will not take anything for granted.”
Sanwo-Olu described President Tinubu as “very gracious” in receiving the delegation and said the meeting produced “words of encouragement and admonition” for each aspirant. The governor said the candidates pledged loyalty to the party and promised to return to their constituencies to promote both federal and state achievements to voters.
“They’ve given their commitments to thank him for the fatherly role, to assure him that they’ve also seen what he’s doing at the national level, which has been direct beneficiaries to their various constituents and what the state is doing,” Sanwo-Olu said. “They have committed that they will do the work. I would believe they will do a good work.”
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While acknowledging the party’s organisational strengths — “we have the data. We have the numbers” — Sanwo-Olu cautioned against overconfidence, even with federal support and a strong state structure. He invoked lessons from the 2023 elections to underline that victory cannot be assumed.
“The excellence of your assurance is huge. And ordinarily, with the support of the president and the work you’ve been doing, I would say it’s a game over already. But trying to remember what happened in 2023, and you cannot leave anything to chance,” he said, stressing the need for rigorous grassroots mobilisation.
Sanwo-Olu outlined practical steps the party would take to strengthen its chances, including sharing voter data, mobilising stakeholders and activating networks of councillors and ward executives to ensure sustained outreach.
“It is legroom. It’s a leg walk. They have stakeholders that are going to work with several hundreds of councillors, several hundreds of party executive at the ward and at the local government level,” he said.
“Everything is cut out for them. But the bottom line is they’re giving assurance to Mr President, and they’re all encouraged. They’re all motivated.”
