Lagos State Deputy Governor and All Progressives Congress, APC, 2027 governorship candidate, Obafemi Hamzat, has said he has never met or talked to his running mate, Damilola Sonayon-James, before the party chose her for the role.

Hamzat shared this revelation during the public showing of “Who Is She?” At the Syrian Club Event Centre in Ikoyi area of the state.

He said that the choice of his deputy governorship candidate was made after discussions within the Lagos APC, following President Bola Tinubu’s request for the state chapter to select the candidate.

Hazmat said he suggested that the running mate should be a young woman, and the President agreed with that idea.

According to Hamzat, the president called and suggested that the matter be resolved.

He said: “The president called me and said, ‘You guys go and sort it out.’ I said, ‘Sir, I think it should be a female.’ He said, ‘It’s okay.’ I said, ‘It should be young.’ He said, ‘It’s okay.”

The APC governorship candidate said the party also took into account the state’s zoning plan when making their decision.

He said since he hails from Lagos East and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is from Lagos Central, people expected the deputy governor position to go to Lagos West.

Hamzat said he didn’t have a personal connection with Sonayon-James before she became the party’s deputy governorship candidate.

“Until Damilola was chosen, I didn’t know her phone number. I got her phone number from somebody,” he said.

He said that Sonayon-James, who is the deputy woman leader of the Lagos APC and comes from Badagry, was picked based on her abilities.

The Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains active, with sustained transmission driving increases in reported cases and deaths.

As of 15 July 2026, a cumulative total of 2,124 confirmed cases, including 828 deaths, have been reported from the DRC.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) made this known in a statement on Friday.

Also, the WHO said German authorities had reported a laboratory-confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola case in a humanitarian worker from the US who was medically evacuated from the DRC on July 13.

“It is the second US citizen treated in Germany.

“In Uganda, no new BVD cases have been recorded since June 21,” it said.

READ  ALSO: Uganda begins 42-day countdown to Ebola-free status after discharging last patient

According to it, the latest patient was discharged on 16 July after testing negative twice, allowing the country to begin the mandatory 42-day enhanced surveillance period before declaring the outbreak over.

The statement said that health authorities in the DRC and Uganda, working with WHO and partners, were continuing extensive outbreak response measures, including surveillance.

(NAN)