“I Take Tonight As A Job Interview”: Hamzat, Rhodes-Vivour, Doherty Clash Over Housing, #EndSARS At Lagos Debate

The 2026 Lagos State governorship debate, organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, became a stage for sharp exchanges on housing, governance and the lingering wounds of the #EndSARS protests, as the leading candidates to succeed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu laid out competing visions for Africa’s largest city.

The Lagos governorship debate featured the Peoples Democratic Party’s Deji Doherty, the African Democratic Congress’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the All Progressives Congress’s Obafemi Hamzat, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress’s Funso Doherty, each seeking to define the future of a state of over 20 million people, ValidViewNetwork reports .

THE HOUSING CRISIS: FOUR CANDIDATES, FOUR ANSWERS

The debate opened with a focus on Lagos’s housing crisis, where residents spend between 50 and 70 per cent of their income on rent, far above the globally recommended threshold of 30 per cent.

Deji Doherty, the PDP candidate, offered perhaps the most unconventional proposal of the night, arguing that the state government should become a direct player in the rental market rather than attempting to regulate private landlords.

“There is no landlord and there is no government that can control a landlord,” Doherty said. “What we are going to do is very simple. We are going to rent those houses ourselves and then you come and rent from us if you want to. If they cannot compete with the landlords, then let us forget it”.

He argued that government must become the biggest housing developer in Lagos and compete with private landlords to provide affordable accommodation.

“I can’t build 150,000 houses in Lagos. I don’t have control over the prices of materials and lands, but I’ll put a research team together,” he admitted .

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the ADC candidate, positioned himself as the candidate of the ordinary resident, promising 100,000 housing units within four years and a fundamental shift away from what he described as two decades of elite-focused governance.

“My manifesto has always stood with the people, putting the interest of the people first. I have that track record,” Rhodes-Vivour said. “We’re bringing solution thinking to the problems of Lagos State—waste management, traffic, healthcare, housing—100,000 units”.

He criticised the state government’s approach to communities like Makoko, accusing the authorities of celebrating development while pushing residents out.

“Lagos govt in last 20 years, focus on elite policies, eyebrow areas for housing. On paper, Lagos celebrates a high IGR, but on ground, people are not feeling. We would focus on people, our policies are tailored towards that”.

Obafemi Hamzat, the APC candidate, leaned on his record and experience, describing the debate as a “job interview” and presenting his manifesto, “The Lagos Promise,” as the product of a lifetime of preparation.

“I take tonight as a job interview. The first question you ask anybody that wants this type of responsibility is, what have you done to prepare for this job?” Hamzat said.

He cited his work as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, where he led the team that delivered the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, and his tenure as Commissioner for Science and Technology, which produced the state’s residents’ database.

“The government is served better when it knows its people. What is important is who is ready to do the job. I know the people, the state and the job,” he said .

THE #ENDSARS SHADOW: RHODES-VIVOUR CHALLENGES HAMZAT

The debate was not confined to policy. The spectre of the October 2020 #EndSARS protests, and the Lekki tollgate shootings, loomed large, with Rhodes-Vivour directly challenging Hamzat over the government’s handling of the anniversary and the aftermath.

Rhodes-Vivour had previously condemned the police use of tear gas to disperse memorial gatherings at the Lekki tollgate, accusing the APC-led government of normalising a lack of empathy.

“They are normalising this bullying system of governance that has come to describe what the APC government has become,” he said in an earlier interview. “We need a government that actually understands that lives were lost on this day. Innocent citizens were killed”.

In response, Hamzat defended the Lagos State Government’s record, stating that the state had implemented several recommendations of the judicial panel set up to investigate the Lekki tollgate incident, seeking to frame the government’s response as one of accountability rather than neglect.

THE ECONOMY AND THE COST OF LIVING

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Funso Doherty, the NDC candidate, focused on the cost of living, proposing the removal of what he described as nuisance taxes and levies that burden small businesses and residents.

He argued that the state government was not doing enough to address the economic hardship facing ordinary Lagosians, citing the rising cost of food, transportation and accommodation.

He promised to prioritise policies that would put money back in the pockets of residents.

WHY IT MATTERS

The debate crystallised the choice facing Lagos voters in 2027.

Deji Doherty offers a radical interventionist model: the government as landlord, competing directly with private developers to bring down rents.

Rhodes-Vivour offers a people-first agenda: 100,000 housing units, decentralised waste management, and a moral reckoning over #EndSARS.

Hamzat offers continuity: experience, infrastructure delivery, and a 100-point manifesto that promises to build on the Sanwo-Olu administration’s record.

Funso Doherty offers fiscal discipline and relief for small businesses.The housing crisis, the cost of living, and the unresolved trauma of Lekki are the issues that will define this election.

The candidates have made their cases. The people of Lagos will make their choice.The debate is over. The campaign continues.

And the questions remain: who can actually deliver, and who is merely promising? ValidViewNetwork reports.