Lagosians who want to know exactly what Dr Obafemi Hamzat is promising ahead of the 2027 governorship race may no longer need to wait for a rally or a campaign flyer. A support group backing him says residents can now type their questions straight into a chatbot.
The group, the Kadri Obafemi Hamzat (KOH) Impact Network, has rolled out a digital platform called 'Ask KOH', according to a statement its Communications Manager, Miss Oreoluwa Ojo, released to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.
What the platform is for
According to Ojo, the tool is meant to make Hamzat's vision and policy priorities easier for ordinary residents to reach. She explained that it comes on the heels of the unveiling of his manifesto, which carries the title 'The Lagos Promise (Ìlérí Èkó)', as the 2027 Lagos State governorship election draws closer.
Users, she said, will be able to put questions to the platform, browse through the manifesto and find details of what is being proposed across major sectors. The areas she listed are transportation, healthcare, education, infrastructure, housing, security and economic opportunities.
From Ikeja to your own street: the local angle
The feature the group appears most keen to highlight is what Ojo described as a community-level approach. In her account, residents can channel their enquiries to their own Local Government Area (LGA) or Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos's grassroots administrative units.
The idea, according to the statement, is that people can see which proposals touch their own neighbourhoods and read the manifesto through a local lens rather than only as a statewide document.
Why the group says it built it
Ojo framed the launch as proof of the network's commitment to using technology to close the gap between what politicians propose and what citizens actually know. She added that the platform should raise public awareness and get more people engaging with the development priorities set out in the manifesto.
She urged residents to visit the Ask KOH website to chat with the bot, go through the manifesto and get information on the development plans being proposed for Lagos State.
What is still not clear
The details about how the platform works come from the support group's own statement as carried by NAN. How the chatbot answers questions, how accurate its responses are and how many residents have used it so far were not stated, and the claims have not been independently verified. The statement also did not include any comment from Hamzat himself.
Still, the move adds a fresh twist to the build-up to 2027 in Lagos: campaign promises that residents can interrogate on their phones, LGA by LGA. Whether Lagosians will actually log on and ask the hard questions is the next thing to watch.
