By Segun Olatunji
Teachers from the 20 local government areas of Ogun State, on Saturday, explained why they have thrown their weight behind the aspiration of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the 2027 gubernatorial election in the state, Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly called Yayi, dismissing opposition’s allegation that they were being compelled to endorse the APC governorship hopeful.
The teachers under the aegis of Yayi Teachers, a group with an acclaimed 15,000-strong membership drawn from public and private schools across Ogun State, stressed that their decision to back Yayi was voluntary and based on his unprecedented enviable scorecard of achievements, particularly his immense contributions to the development of the educational sector in the state.
The Yayi Teachers clarified its position in a strongly worded statement in reaction to an earlier statement on Saturday by a faction of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party alleging that the Ogun State Government was compelling teachers in the state to support the APC flagbearer, Senator Adeola Yayi.
The teachers, in their statement jointly signed by the association’s State General Coordinator, Comrade Sunday Odunaro and State Secretary General, Mr. Taiwo Olusola Increase, emphasised that by their support for Senator Adeola Yayi, they were exercising their constitutional right to freely support a candidate of their choice.
The teachers said their association, which was founded five years ago, has functional chapters in the 20 local government areas of Ogun State.
They noted that they adopted the incumbent Ogun West Senator from inception because of his “outstanding and unparalleled” contributions to the development of the state’s educational sector in the past three and a half years he has been representing his senatorial district in the National Assembly.
The statement partly read, “Our group of teachers from public and private schools was formed five years ago and we have since inaugurated functional chapters in all the 20 local government areas of Ogun State.
“We decided to adopt Senator Adeola from our inception based on his outstanding and indeed unparalleled performance for the education sector in Ogun State as a legislator in the last three and a half years in Ogun State.
“We are not apologetic about our endorsement as our dear state has not witnessed the magnitude of qualitative and quantitative contributions to the educational sector by any legislator or individual.”
The Yayi Teachers expressed delight at their choice of governorship candidate, highlighting the several interventions in the state’s education section facilitated by Senator Yayi, such as the construction of 87 blocks of 12-classroom blocks, 56 staff rooms, four ultra-modern libraries, 13 ICT centres and eight skills acquisition centres across the state.
They further praised Senator Yayi for providing thousands of classroom furniture and textbooks, training of teachers and students in ICT and donating laptop computers to participants at the end of the training programmes.
The Yayi Teachers also noted that the APC governorship flagbearer facilitated 2,636 scholarships worth N200,000 each and 9,894 bursaries of N100,000 each for Ogun State students in tertiary institutions all over Nigeria. The Senator’s donation of campus shuttle buses to tertiary institutions and sponsorship of the legislation that upgraded the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, to the Federal University of Technology, Ilaro, were also applauded by the teachers.
The members of the association further commended Senator Yayi for settling the examination fees of indigent students, happily recalling that the APC governorship hopeful sponsored the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) registration for 2,137 students, having earlier funded the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration for more than 7,000 Ogun State candidates over the years.
“We are also enamoured to endorse Senator Adeola for his coming to the aid of indigent West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) students as well as Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) candidates unable to afford the fees for these critical examinations. In 2026, he personally paid for 2,137 WASSCE students while paying the JAMB fees for over 7000 JAMB candidates of Ogun origin over the years,” the statement added.
Vehemently debunking the PDP’s claims that they were being forced to endorse Senator Yayi, the teachers described such claims as absolute falsehood , stressing that their support for the APC governorship candidate is voluntary and based on their constitutional rights to freely support and vote for any candidate of their choice.
They further maintained that their endorsement and support for Senator Yayi is voluntary and reflective of their collective decision, having witnessed the Ogun West lawmaker’s unprecedented commitment to educational development.
“Our endorsement is not borne out of coercion but of conviction. As educators and citizens, we have the constitutional right to support a candidate whose record demonstrates a genuine commitment to improving education and investing in the future of Ogun State,” the statement added.
