Former Lagos governorship candidate Funso Doherty has formally declared his intention to run for governor in the 2027 election under the platform of the African Democratic Congress, marking a return to the party on which he contested the 2023 race and signalling an early opposition challenge in Nigeria’s commercial capital. Doherty made the declaration on Friday at Freedom Park in Lagos, where he told supporters that the state was being run in a way that benefits a privileged few while leaving most residents burdened by poor public services and rising hardship.
The announcement comes barely two weeks after Doherty resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party, where he had moved in 2024 in an effort, by his own account, to help build a stronger opposition front against the ruling All Progressives Congress in Lagos. In resigning from the PDP in late March 2026, Doherty said recent developments within the party had convinced him it could no longer serve as a credible vehicle for the kind of political change he wanted to pursue. His return to the ADC now places him back on familiar political ground ahead of what is expected to be a highly contested 2027 cycle.
In his declaration speech, Doherty cast the race as a referendum on governance quality in a state that commands enormous financial resources but still struggles with basic development challenges. He argued that Lagos residents remain trapped by failures in education, healthcare, housing, transport, water and power, despite the scale of public spending. That argument is likely to resonate in a state whose 2026 budget rose to about N4.4 trillion after approval by the House of Assembly and assent by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, making it one of the largest subnational budgets in Africa.
Doherty said his campaign would focus on integrity, competence and what he described as people-centred leadership. He promised stronger investment in public schools, free and properly funded healthcare for children, improved vocational education and a shift toward affordable mass transit by road, rail and water. He also renewed his longstanding emphasis on accountability in public spending, an issue that has defined much of his profile in Lagos politics since the last election cycle.
Although the 2027 governorship election is still distant, Doherty’s declaration is politically notable because it introduces an organised opposition voice early into the debate over Lagos’s future after nearly three decades of APC dominance. Whether the ADC can build enough structure and momentum to seriously challenge the ruling party remains uncertain. But Doherty’s return gives the party a familiar figure with an existing reform message, a record of budget scrutiny and a head start in shaping the opposition conversation in the state.
