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Other aspirants also favoured in the race to the Lagos House, Ikeja, include former Commissioner for Environment, Muiz Banire, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Senate Minority Whip, Ganiyu Solomon, and former Commissioner for Health, Lekan Pitan.

Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, has emerged as front-runner in the race for the next Governor of Lagos State.

He stands a high chance of carrying the flag of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2015 governorship election.

Daily Independent exclusively gathered that Hamzat is highly favoured and on top of a list of five aspirants warming up to become the 14th Governor of the state when the tenure of Babatunde Fashola ends in May 2015.

A source close to the top echelons of the ACN told Daily Independent that Hamzat is a favourite to step into Fashola’s shoes and that he implicitly has the nod of his boss, Fashola.

The source said: “Dr. Hamzat is highly favoured by both Fashola and our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; he is the best bet among others eyeing the seat of power in Lagos and this is because he has worked with Fashola in the last six years and knows the terrain very well.”

Hamzat was former Commissioner for Science and Technology during the tenure of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Governor for four years and retained the position during the first term of Fashola’s tenure.

His loyalty to the party and his bosses earned him a higher calling as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure at the commencement of the second term of Fashola in May 2011, a position he holds till date.

Hamzat is also the third son of Oba Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat, ‘Olu’ of Afowowa, who is also the Lagos West Senatorial District leader of the ACN.

Hamzat’s chances, the source said, are buoyed by the fact that, “Like Fashola he (Hamzat) is not much of a politician, neither does he engage in group alliance of any sort that could be a distraction.

The source also dismissed fears that Hamzat’s chances could be marred by the fact that he’s not an indigene of Lagos State.

“Yes, he might be from Ogun State but his father is a well respected ACN chieftain and a former legislator and commissioner in the Second Republic in Lagos State. His mother is a Lagosian, that should not be much of a hindrance to his chances,” the source added.

Also in contention for the plum job is Banire.

Banire, is a former Commissioner for Environment, who enjoyed a four-year spell each under Tinubu and Fashola respectively, and is currently the National Legal Adviser of the ACN.

Speaker of the House of Assembly, Ikuforiji, who has always been in the picture of succeeding Fashola, might have been played out with the ongoing case of money laundering leveled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The source added: “Ikuforiji is not new to the governorship race, the party leaders trust him and he is a Tinubu loyalist to the core, but the money laundering allegation does not do his chances any good.

“It is a smear on his name and I can’t see how the party will cope with all these cases hanging on his neck. It would be a tough one convincing Lagosians otherwise.”

Senate Minority Whip, Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, may have done his governorship ambition no good when he recently went to press with his intention to succeed Fashola, which made many of the leaders in state uncomfortable.

Former Commissioner for Health and Education in Lagos, Lekan Pitan, the source said, is also a strong candidate who might be fancied as a standby choice should Hamzat, for any reason, opt out of the race.

“Pitan is a trusted associate as well as a protégée of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is intelligent, and has paid his dues, but his undoing might be that he has not been in the scheme of things recently and the party leaders may not find it comfortable giving him the nod,” one source added.

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