Lagos State which was created by the military in 1967 has had successive administrations which had worked for the growth and transformation of the state over the decades.
Deputy governors are the second-highest officers in the executive branch of the government of Lagos State after the governor, and rank first in line of succession. The deputy governor is directly elected together with the governor to a four-year term of office.
BusinessDay brings you profiles of past deputy governors of Lagos State.
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Rafiu Jafojo
The late Jafojo, served as the deputy to Lateef Jakande, who ruled Lagos State for about four years. They were both in office for four years, 91 days.
Jafojo was born 6 December 1935 – 23 April 2016.
He worked as a building inspector with the Ikeja Town Planning Authority. He left for England In 1961 where he got a National Certificate in Building Engineering from Hackney Technical College in 1966 and Higher National Certificate from Brixon School of Engineering.
In 1969, he obtained an Advanced Certificate in Building Technology from Northern Polytechnic, Holloway, now University of North London, in 1970.
Elected first deputy governor of Lagos
On 1 October 1979, Jafojo, alongside Lateef Jakande was sworn in as the first democratically elected deputy governor of Lagos.
Together, they were elected in 1979, and re-elected again in 1983, but the second term administration was cut short by the interruption of the military in governance of the country.
Jakande’s administration is touted as perhaps the best administration Lagos State has seen since it was created in the 1960s.
During this administration there was massive upgrade and provision of social infrastructures and transformation of all sectors in the state.
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Lateefat Okunnu
Early career
Okunnu was born on 3 December 1939 and was deputy governor of Lagos State from 1990-1992.
She was caretaker chairman of the National Republican Convention in 1993.
Okunnu is a founding member of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN).
Okunnu was born in Lagos and educated at Okepopo Primary School, Lagos Island, Methodist Girls High School and Queens Colledge, Yaba.
Thereafter, she joined Lagos State Civil Service as an education officer. She was with the State government until 1980, after which she moved to the federal civil service as a principal secretary in the federal ministry of agriculture. In 1986, she became a permanent secretary in the cabinet office.
Education
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and earned a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Lagos in 1968. From 1967 to 1970, Okunnu worked with the University of Lagos as an assistant lecturer.
Sinatu Ojikutu
Early life and political career
Ojikutu is a former deputy governor of Lagos State from 1992 to 1993. She was deputy governor to Micheal Otedola until a military takeover of the government in 1993.
She was born in Eikti State where she had her primary education. She left Ekiti after primary six for Lagos. She attended Our Lady of Apostle secondary school in Ijebu Ode. From Our Lady of Apostle, she attended Ilesha Grammar School to complete her secondary school.
She was an executive director at the Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry. She was the first female to be appointed to such a position. She was then secretary to the Lagos State Transport Corporation.
Sir Micheal Otedola selected her as running mate under the umbrella of national republican convention and she then became the deputy governor of Lagos State after their election victory in 1992. After the military coup in 1993, they were removed from office.
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Decision to renounce her Nigerian citizenship
In recent years, Ojikutu who is the first female democratically-elected deputy governor in Nigeria, has distanced herself from active politics.
During the electioneering for the 2023 presidential election, she refused to back incumbent President Bola Tinubu, promising to renounce her Nigerian citizenship if Tinubu emerged the President.
She, however, rescinded her vow to renounce her Nigerian citizenship and relocate abroad over Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election, saying she was convinced by friends and members of her religious group to reverse the decision.
Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele
Bucknor served as deputy to the then governor, Bola Tinubu for three years, she was unceremoniously impeached from office in 2002 after falling-out with Tinubu and now defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) party officials in Lagos State.
She thereafter joined the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and has remained in the party since then.
Early life and career
Bucknor-Akerele was born 30 April 1939; she was the deputy governor to Bola Tinubu from 1999 to 2002.
She was born to a prominent Nigerian activists and the first indigenous surgeon in Nigeria. She attended CMS Girls School Lagos, before she travelled in 1949 to Suerrey England for her degree in Law.
She got a diploma in Journalism in 1962, and worked as a freelance journalist for BBC and VON Magazine.
Femi Pedro
Pedro, a renowned banker and economist was chosen to serve as the deputy governor of Lagos after the impeachment of Bucknor-Akerele.
He was deputy to Tinubu, but was impeached for gross misconduct on May 10, 2007, days to the end of the administration.
Political career
In his years as the deputy governor, Pedro was appointed chairman of Lagos State Revenue Mobilization committee. They restructured, reorganised and re-engineered the Board of Inland Revenue.
His experience in the banking sector helped increase Lagos State’s internally generated revenue from a rate of 300 million naira per month to 7 billion naira within eighteen months. He was popularly referred to as “Mr. Pedronomics”, primarily due to his affinity towards micro and macro-economic policies.
Pedro introduced and implemented the PSP and waste management model that is currently used in Lagos. He was also in charge of conducting extensive research in Brazil with other cabinet members to study and understand the novel metropolitan bus transport system which resulted in the BRT.
On 13 December 2006, Pedro dumped the Action Congress to declare under the Labour Party. He became the first-ever Nigerian to contest for a gubernatorial election under the Labour Party platform.
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Reconciliation with Tinubu
After dumping the AC for the opposition party and failing to realise his governorship ambition in the LP and PDP, in December 2013, Pedro reportedly held a secret meeting with Tinubu, the former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and former interim national chairman of APC, Bisi Akande, to finalise his move back to APC.
Within a matter of days of the report breaking out, Pedro released a statement confirming the allegations.
Abiodun Ogunleye
Shortly after Pedro was shoved aside, Ogunleye succeeded him as deputy governor at the dying minute in the Tinubu’s administration in Lagos State.
He is a politician, who has seen it all from the first republic to now and has worked closely with Awolowo, Ajasin and other politicians in the South West.
Ogunleye was then the chairman of the AD in Lagos State and perhaps was given the deputy governorship position as reward for his loyalty to the administration.
Career
Ogunleye is an accomplished technocrat, he had risen to the top of his accounting profession as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN).
He had worked hard from the onset of adulthood and made money through honest labour. As a family man, he is blessed with good children who are making progress in their careers.
Ogunleye is a household name in his home town of Ikorodu, where he is a prince. In community service, he is not found wanting. As a politician, he has also made his mark, serving as chairman of a ruling party and number two citizen.
Ogunleye, who is in his mid-80’s now, has continued to contribute to community development, humanity while still active politically.
Sarah Adebisi Sosan
Sosan served as deputy governor in the first term of the Babatunde Raji Fashola administration, but she was replaced in 2015 in the second term of that administration.
She has remained politically silent since leaving office, however, she still remains a member of the APC.
Sosan, hails from the aristocratic family of Durosinmi of Ilewe town in Ojo local government area.Her mother hails from the Fafunwa Onikoyi royal family of Ita-Onikoyi in Idumota, Lagos Island, and her father was a member of the defunct Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), thus making him a long-time disciple of Obafemi Awolowo.
Career
As a Youth Corper, Bisi taught at the St. Leo’s Secondary School Abeokuta, Ogun State as a classroom teacher while her sojourn in the Lagos State Public Service started in January 1989 when she was employed by the then Lagos State Post Primary Teaching Service Commission (PP-TESCOM) as a Master Grade II, a classroom teaching appointment.
Between 1990 and 1999, Sosan left her job as a teacher to serve as a Principal Education Officer at the Lagos State Ministry of Education.
She later moved to the defunct State Primary Education Board (SPEB) now Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) as an Assistant Board Secretary.
Later in year 2006 when the state Primary Education Board transformed to Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, she was redeployed to the Department of Communication and Information Technology as the head of department (HOD).
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Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire
Political journey
Orelope-Adefulire served as deputy governor of Lagos State from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, she was the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation of Lagos State from 2003 to 2011.
In the previous Muhammed Buhari administration, she worked as the Senior Special Assistant on Sustainable Development Goals.
She was born 29 September 1959.
Education
She attended Salvation Army Primary School, Agege, Lagos (1965–1971), and she finished her secondary school education from St Joseph’s Secondary School, Mangoro, situated at Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State.
She is an alumna of Lagos State University (LASU) and was awarded an honorary degree by the university. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a diploma in social works
Oluranti Adebule
Political career
She was appointed and sworn in as the secretary to the State government by the then governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) in July, 2011.
In the second term of that administration she was promoted and chosen as the Lagos state deputy governor, sworn in on May 29, 2015 by the Chief Justice of Lagos.
However, Adebule’s political experience started when she was appointed as Commissioner 1 in Lagos State.
She was appointed into the Post Primary Teaching Service Commission (PP-TESCOM) now Teachers’ establishment and pensions office by Bola Tinubu from October 2000 to February 2005, and later as board member of the Lagos State Scholarship Board from February 2005 to November 2005.
Education
Adebule had her early education at Awori College, Ojo, she thereafter proceeded for tertiary education at LASU, Ojo to study Islamic education in 1992. Much later, she had a certificate in early childhood development curriculum and school administration and assessment from the Nigeria Institute of International Education Association in 2006.
She continued her master’s degree at the same institution in curriculum studies. She later progressed to obtain her doctorate degree again at the same institution which she completed in 2012.
Femi Hamzat
Political career
Hamzat is the incumbent Deputy Governor of Lagos State in the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s led administration; and has also held several positions before now.
In August 2005, Hamzat was appointed Commissioner for Science and Technology during the tenure of Bola Tinubu, a position he retained when Babatunde Fashola assumed office in 2007.
It was during his tenure as Commissioner for Science and Technology that Hamzat enforced the application of modern technology in the state’s ministries, thus changing the face of data and record keeping in Lagos and at the same time eliminating the trend of state ghost workers.
The office had gone without a commissioner during Fashola’s first four years (post- Rauf Aregbesola’s appointment), with only a Special Adviser.
Hamzat was appointed as Special Adviser on Works to the former Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Fashola in 2015. In September 2018, he resigned that role to contest in the Lagos state gubernatorial elections.
Background
Hamzat was born 19 September 1964, and he was born in Lagos into the family of Late Oba Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat and Late Alhaja Kehinde Hamzat from Iga Egbe, Lagos State.
His father, the late Oba Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat served as a member of the Lagos State House of Assemblyand as a Commissioner for Transportation in the state (1979–1983) before becoming the Vice-chairman (South West) of then Alliance for Democracy (AD).
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