The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2027 Lagos State election, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has appointed former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, as the Director-General of his campaign organisation.
Hamzat reportedly unveiled the appointment during an expanded meeting of the campaign council held in Lagos.
According to a report by Arise Television, President Bola Tinubu endorsed Obanikoro’s emergence during a recent meeting with APC stakeholders and officials in the state.
The president was said to have expressed confidence in Obanikoro’s capacity to coordinate the campaign, citing his extensive experience in public service and his record in both elective and appointive positions at the state and federal levels.
Obanikoro is a seasoned politician whose career spans several decades. He previously contested the Lagos governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and has held a number of strategic government positions.
His public service journey includes serving as Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture in 1999 during Tinubu’s tenure as governor.
He later represented Lagos Central Senatorial District in the Senate after winning the election in 2003 and served one term before being appointed Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana in May 2008.
Obanikoro subsequently joined the federal cabinet in 2013 as Minister of State for Defence before being reassigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as Minister of State.
