Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has backed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second-term bid, saying the administration’s economic and security reforms need continuity.
Speaking at the 7th Freedom Online Yearly Lecture in Lagos on Thursday, Sanwo-Olu said, “I will not pretend to be neutral. I am a proud member of the All-Progressives Congress. I believe in the reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and I will say so plainly.”
He also said, “But I will try to speak first as a Nigerian and only then as a partisan.”
Sanwo-Olu defended petrol subsidy removal, saying, “The subsidy was not removed because anybody enjoyed removing it. It was removed because it had become a hole in the national purse through which the money for roads, schools and hospitals was draining away,” while admitting, “I will not stand here and tell you that it has been painless. It has not.”
He cited economic growth, rising foreign reserves, lower inflation and increased remittances as signs of progress.
On security, he backed state policing and warned that insecurity could affect the 2027 elections.
Sanwo-Olu said, “Nigeria has one of the largest youth populations on earth. That is either the greatest dividend in our history or the greatest danger to it.”
He also cited the APC’s loss in Osun as evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to democracy.
“I expect my party to win, and I expect a second term for President Tinubu to consolidate the Renewed Hope agenda, because an unfinished reform is the most expensive kind,” Sanwo-Olu said.
