Agbaje's promise to free Lagos is an insult, says Sanwo-Olu's running mate, Hamzat

Obafemi Hamzat, the running mate to the Lagos State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babajide Sanwo-Olu, says any rhetoric that the state is in bondage is an insult to Lagosians.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jimi Agbaje, has, on several occasions, tagged Sanwo-Olu a stooge of former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, and called on Lagosians to reject the one-man rule of the APC national leader. He has run a campaign that's largely projected the message of liberating the state from bondage.

Jimi Agbaje Jimi Agbaje has called for more support after members of the Accord Party pledged support to him at a political mixer on Thursday, December 20, 2018. Pulse Nigeria

However, while speaking during an interview with Pulse on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, Hamzat said it's an insulting narrative to say Lagosians are in bondage. He commended Tinubu, who was governor between 1999 and 2007, for lifting the state from a bankrupt state to the fifth largest economy in Africa.

He said the state has made several leaps in development under the stewardship of the party and Tinubu's guidance.

He said, "After every election, you (Agbaje) come up and start saying things? It's more than that.

"Which freedom? I think it's insulting to start talking about freedom when the reality is that the state is being moved forward.

"In 1999, Lagos did not have a single ambulance. That tells you where we're coming from and where we are today.

"We still need a lot of work to do but to insult us and say this freedom whatever is wrong.

"In 1999, we were certainly not the fifth largest economy in Africa but today we are the fifth largest after Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. So, Lagos' economy is bigger than 13 African states put together. We're the only one today that doesn't depend on federal transfers in order to build our state.

"That independence is because some people were thinking to move the state forward."

Babajide Sanwo-Olu is the APC's governorship candidate in Lagos State ece-auto-gen

Hamzat, a former commissioner, promised that his partnership with Agbaje, another former commissioner, is the best choice for Lagos to move forward. He said the plans that they have for Lagosians will make the state even more prosperous than it is on the continent.

The Lagos governorship election will take place on March 2, 2019, with Sanwo-Olu and Agbaje considered favourites to win the coveted seat to head Nigeria's economic capital.