By Segun Olatunji
All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the 2027 general elections in Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has vowed to fully implement the National Teachers’ Policy (NTP) if elected governor, just as teachers across the state explained why they have endorsed his governorship aspiration.
The endorsement was announced during an interactive session held at the Ake Pavilion, Alake Palace Ground, Abeokuta, where teachers from various unions and professional associations unanimously adopted Senator Adeola as their preferred governorship candidate in the 2027 gubernatorial election in the state.
The groups included the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), OgunTeach Interns, Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON), among others.
Speaking on behalf of the teachers, the chairmen of NUT, ASUSS and ANCOPSS, Noah Sewakanu, Felix Agbesanwa and Alaba Olugbenle, respectively, attributed their endorsement to Senator Adeola’s numerous impacting interventions in the education sector.
They noted that his sponsorship of WAEC and JAMB registration fees for indigent students had enabled thousands of candidates to sit for the examinations, while his scholarship and bursary programmes had provided significant financial relief to students and their parents.
The teachers also pledged to mobilise their colleagues across Ogun State in support of Adeola’s governorship ambition, while urging him to prioritise teachers’ welfare and ensure prompt payment of gratuities upon assuming office.
Earlier, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, described the interactive session as an opportunity for teachers to present their expectations to the APC governorship candidate.
He commended Senator Adeola for his consistent support for education and expressed confidence that teachers’ welfare would receive greater attention under his administration.
Arigbabu also assured the teachers that the next administration would consolidate on the educational achievements and developmental strides of Governor Dapo Abiodun across all sectors.
Responding to the endorsement, Senator Adeola expressed appreciation to the teachers for their confidence in him and formally accepted their endorsement.
He pledged to fully implement the National Teachers’ Policy (NTP), describing it as a policy that aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and places education at the centre of national development.
According to him, teachers remain the foundation of every nation’s progress, stressing that his personal and political successes were built on the solid foundation laid by his teachers during his formative years.
He assured the gathering that his administration would faithfully implement the National Teachers’ Policy while sustaining and expanding the teacher welfare initiatives introduced by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Highlighting his achievements in the education sector over the past three and a half years as Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Adeola disclosed that he facilitated the construction of 128 blocks of 12-classroom buildings, 56 staff rooms and four ultra-modern libraries across Ogun State.
He added that the interventions also included the provision of furniture, over 300,000 textbooks, 13 ICT Centres and eight Skills Acquisition Centres.
The senator further stated that thousands of teachers and students had received ICT training, while 12,250 laptop computers were distributed to students, teachers and members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
According to him, more than 12,000 Ogun State undergraduates have benefited from scholarships and bursaries, while 102 mini-buses were donated to tertiary institutions to ease campus transportation.
He also revealed that he sponsored the WASSCE registration fees of 2,137 indigent students in 2026 and facilitated JAMB registration for over 15,000 candidates of Ogun State origin over the years.
Adeola further recalled sponsoring the legislation that upgraded the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro to the Federal University of Technology, Ilaro, describing education as the most effective instrument for individual and societal transformation.
He reaffirmed his commitment to supporting teachers through increased budgetary allocations and targeted interventions, describing them as the engine room for producing quality human resources.
In another development, teachers across Ogun State have defended their endorsement of Senator Adeola following allegations by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that they were being compelled to support his governorship ambition.
In a statement jointly signed by the State General Coordinator of Yayi Teachers, Comrade Sunday Odunaro, and the State Secretary-General, Mr. Taiwo Olusola Increase, the association dismissed the allegations as false, misleading and baseless.
The group, which said it has over 15,000 members spread across the 20 Local Government Areas of Ogun State, maintained that its members are law-abiding citizens who have the constitutional right to associate freely and support candidates of their choice.
According to the association, Senator Adeola was adopted from the inception of the movement because of what it described as his outstanding and unmatched contributions to education through his legislative representation.
“We make no apology for our endorsement because no legislator or individual has made the level of qualitative and quantitative contributions to education in Ogun State that Senator Adeola has made”, the statement said.
The teachers listed several educational projects facilitated by the senator, including the construction of classroom blocks, staff rooms, ultra-modern libraries, ICT Centres and Skills Acquisition Centres, all aimed at improving learning conditions and promoting digital and vocational education.
They also highlighted the distribution of thousands of desks, chairs and textbooks, ICT training programmes for teachers and students, as well as the donation of laptop computers to participants.
On tertiary education, the association commended Senator Adeola for facilitating scholarships worth ₦200,000 each for 2,636 students and bursaries of ₦100,000 each for 9,894 Ogun State undergraduates studying in tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The teachers further praised him for donating mini-buses to tertiary institutions and sponsoring the legislation that upgraded the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro to the Federal University of Technology, Ilaro, describing it as a landmark achievement for higher education in Ogun State.
They also acknowledged his sponsorship of WASSCE registration for 2,137 indigent students in 2026 and the payment of JAMB registration fees for thousands of Ogun students over the years.
The association insisted that these interventions had positively impacted thousands of families across the state and demonstrated Senator Adeola’s unwavering commitment to education and human capital development.
Reaffirming their support, the teachers maintained that their endorsement was voluntary, constitutional and based solely on the senator’s verifiable achievements in the education sector, expressing confidence that his leadership would further transform education and accelerate the overall development of Ogun State.
