Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (born 25 June 1965) is a Nigerian politician who has served as the governor of Lagos State since 2019.

Sanwo-Olu was the treasurer at the former Lead Merchant Bank from 1994 to 1997 after which he moved to the United Bank for Africa as the head of foreign money market.

He then proceeded to First Inland Bank, Plc (now First City Monument Bank) as a deputy general manager and divisional head.

He was the chairman of Baywatch Group Limited and First Class Group Limited.

Sanwo-Olu began his political career in 2003, when he was appointed a Special Adviser on Corporate Matters to the then deputy governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro.

He was later made the acting Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget until 2007, when he was appointed as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry by then Governor, Bola Tinubu.

After the General Elections of 2007, Sanwo-Olu was appointed Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Sanwo-Olu was made Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2016.

Some of his notable public sector achievements include the supervision of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) privatization projects.

He set up and was the Pioneer Board Chairman of Lagos Security Trust Fund.

The LAGBUS System and the Control & Command Centre in Alausa Ikeja were subsequently established under his directives.

He became governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress after contesting and unexpectedly winning the APC gubernatorial primaries against incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode in October 2018.

He is a graduate of the University of Lagos, London Business School, Lagos Business School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Before his gubernatorial ambition, he was the managing director and CEO of Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSPDC).

Sanwo-Olu briefly attended Government Demonstration School, Gbaja Surulere before moving to Ijebu-Ife Grammar School, Ogun State to complete his secondary education.

He has a BSc in Surveying and an MBA from the University of Lagos.

He is an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the London Business School and the Lagos Business School.

He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Training and Development (NITAD).

On 16 September 2018, Sanwo-Olu formally declared his intention to run for the office of the governor of Lagos State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) making him a major contender to the incumbent governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

His declaration attracted endorsements from major stakeholders in Lagos State politics; including the Governor's Advisory Council of the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress and members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, which led to withdrawal of Obafemi Hamzat, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos from the gubernatorial race.

He won the Lagos gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressives Congress on 2 October 2018.

At the APC flag-off campaign rally held on 8 January 2019, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, and 63 political parties lent their support for the candidacy of Sanwo-Olu.

In a landslide victory over his opponent Jimi Agbaje, Sanwo-Olu was elected to the Office of Governor of Lagos State at the 2019 Lagos State gubernatorial election held on 9 March 2019.

He was sworn in as the 15th Governor of Lagos State at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Lagos Island on Wednesday 29 May 2019.

He has been working on different development activities, one of which is road construction across major areas in Lagos state.

In 2020, Sanwo-olu asked that the statue of Fela Kuti that was erected by Akinwunmi Ambode be removed from Allen Avenue in Ikeja, to ease the situation of traffic in that area.

However, the statue is said to be relocated to a more convenient area in the State.

He commissioned the Oshodi - Abule-Egba BRT Lane amongst other projects in 2020.

He was reelected governor under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 Lagos State gubernatorial election held on 18 March defeating Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) who came first runner up and AbdulAzeez Olajide ‘Jandor’ Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came second runner up in a deeply violent and hate speech charged election which fueled ethnic tensions.

The re-election of Sanwo-Olu was contested by both Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) and Olajide Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They respectively alleged that Sanwo-olu's deputy, Obafemi Hamzat was not qualified to contest the election because he earlier renounced his Nigerian citizenship and that Sanwo-olu presented a forged high school certificate.

On Monday, 25 September 2023, the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal threw out both Jandor's and Rhodes-Vivour's petitions and affirmed Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat as duly elected governor and deputy governor of Lagos state.

Sanwo-Olu has obtained a variety of awards in his career, some of which include:

Sanwo-Olu is married to Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.