The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has questioned the governing experience and political structure of the Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Olufemi Gbadamosi ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 governorship election.

The Lagos APC spokesman, Seye Oladejo, in a statement on Thursday, said the emergence of the duo as the opposition party’s candidates should not be mistaken for a guaranteed pathway to Lagos House, arguing that a political ticket, coalition or social-media presence did not by itself amount to governing experience.

Oladejo noted that Rhodes-Vivour had contested the 2019 Lagos West Senatorial election on the KOWA Party platform, later moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), emerged as the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in 2023 and subsequently joined the ADC, under which he is again seeking the governorship in 2027.

He said Gbadamosi had also contested the 2019 Lagos governorship election on the platform of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), where he polled 4,780 votes, before contesting the 2020 Lagos East Senatorial bye-election on the PDP platform.

According to him, while there was nothing wrong with political evolution, movement across political platforms did not amount to institution-building, stressing that Lagosians had the right to question the governing experience of the opposition candidates.

“Lagos is not an internship centre for politicians seeking their first serious executive governance experience,” Oladejo said, arguing that the state’s population, economy, infrastructure and urban-management challenges required experienced leadership.

He asked where the candidates’ experience was in managing a state bureaucracy, supervising a state budget, running a complex public institution and translating campaign promises into government programmes and measurable outcomes.

Oladejo acknowledged Rhodes-Vivour’s performance in the 2023 governorship election, noting that he secured 312,329 votes to finish second behind Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who polled 762,134 votes.

However, he said coming second in a governorship election was different from having a record of governing, adding that the 2027 contest would require the opposition candidates to demonstrate institutional depth, political organisation and governing capacity.

He also challenged Rhodes-Vivour’s claim that he had spent the period since 2023 building grassroots structures, urging the opposition candidate to demonstrate the strength of his organisation across wards, local governments and polling units.

“Let the structure speak for itself. Let us see the wards. Let us see the local-government organisation. Let us see the polling-unit machinery. Let us see the depth beyond social media,” he said.

On policy, Oladejo said listing housing, transportation, healthcare, education, flooding and economic development as priorities was insufficient, urging the opposition to provide details on funding, implementation timelines, costs, responsible institutions and measurable outcomes.

“Governance is not a PowerPoint presentation. It is the difficult business of financing, implementing, supervising and delivering,” the APC spokesman said.

He said the Lagos APC welcomed the opposition ticket and was prepared to present its candidates, structure, record and manifesto to voters, but maintained that the emergence of Rhodes-Vivour and Gbadamosi did not, by itself, establish their qualification to govern the state.

Oladejo said the 2027 election would ultimately require voters to consider the candidates’ organisation, political relationships, institutional knowledge, records and capacity to deliver, rather than their visibility or political permutations.