Surge In Tunji Alausa’s Visibility Fuels Lagos Guber Whispers

Fresh whispers around the 2027 Lagos governorship race are growing louder within the All Progressives Congress (APC), with insiders pointing to the emergence of two powerful figures quietly positioning for life after Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Among them, sources say, is Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, whose rising national visibility is increasingly feeding succession talks back home.

Multiple party sources say Alausa’s profile has expanded significantly in recent months, driven by his central role in federal education reforms and sustained media attention around policy shifts under his watch.

That surge, insiders argue, has added momentum to conversations already taking place within influential APC circles about who succeeds Sanwo-Olu in 2027.

“One of the names being seriously discussed is Tunji Alausa,” a top-level source disclosed, stressing that the deliberations remain informal but consequential. Another insider said his name has continued to surface in closed-door conversations, not as a noisy aspirant but as a figure around whom quiet consensus could eventually form.

Alausa, a medical doctor and nephrologist, was redeployed from Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare to the education portfolio in October 2024, a move widely interpreted in political circles as a vote of confidence.

Since then, his public footprint has grown, with frequent engagement on education policy, sector reforms and national debates, further elevating his standing beyond technocratic confines.

Insiders say he enjoys strong backing at the highest levels of the party, coupled with what they describe as rare behind-the-scenes closeness to President Bola Tinubu.

The subtle push around his possible emergence, sources add, is not limited to the Presidency alone, with reported buy-ins even from figures whose names have also been floated as potential successors to Sanwo-Olu.
Alausa is not new to Lagos succession calculations.

He was quietly touted as a possible governorship candidate ahead of the 2023 election, before President Tinubu’s directive to “maintain the status quo” cleared the path for Sanwo-Olu’s second term.

That earlier mention, insiders note, ensured his name never fully disappeared from succession maps, even as he remained largely out of public political contestation.

For now, neither Alausa nor those said to be encouraging him have publicly confirmed any ambition to govern Lagos.

Yet within APC power circles, his rising visibility, federal relevance and perceived acceptability continue to add weight to the whispers that the race to succeed Sanwo-Olu may already be taking shape—quietly, deliberately, and far from the public stage.