By Priscilla Iyabo Awojuola
There are political meetings that end with handshakes and photographs. Then there are those that leave behind questions.
Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola’s September 25 engagement with journalists at the Ogun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Iwe Iroyin Press Centre, Abeokuta, belonged to the latter category.
Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, came before the journalists with his ITESIWAJU agenda and an unusual request:
“Hold me accountable to what I have promised.”
The journalists, however, did not merely listen. They placed their own demands on the table. And that made the encounter more than a routine political visit.
Adeola, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun State, presented a nine-point development agenda touching infrastructure, tourism and culture, education, healthcare, security, agriculture, youth and women development, industrialisation, job creation and urban development. He also spoke of institutional reforms, transportation, local government administration, and revenue mobilisation.
But beneath the long list of proposed projects was a simple message.
The manifesto, he said, should not be allowed to gather dust.
Adeola asked journalists to return to the document and measure his performance against it, project by project and commitment by commitment, should he win the 2027 governorship election.
He also pledged that a government under his leadership would comply with the Freedom of Information Act and maintain regular engagement with the media.
That invitation puts an interesting responsibility on the press because journalism does not end when the campaign microphone is switched off.
Then, the journalists spoke.
The Ogun NUJ did not allow the occasion to become a one-way conversation. The union presented a Charter of Demands covering media infrastructure, professional development, welfare, and the safety of journalists.
Among the requests were support for a modern permanent NUJ secretariat, a digital newsroom, multimedia facilities, a media innovation hub, a recreation arena, and housing support for journalists.
The union also called for training in artificial intelligence, digital journalism, investigative and data journalism and fact-checking, alongside scholarships, health insurance, equipment support, and occupational-risk protection.
The demands were not entirely without context. The NUJ acknowledged previous interventions attributed to Adeola, including support for a solar-powered borehole, laptops and assistance for Press Week activities. The council also outlined projects it had undertaken itself in recent years, including solar power, free Wi-Fi, and improvements to its facilities.
But the union’s message was essentially that a stronger media requires stronger institutions.That is where the conversation becomes bigger than one politician and one visit.
Beyond the campaign trail,
Adeola’s presentation also placed considerable emphasis on Ogun’s economic possibilities.
He spoke of the state’s strategic position between major economic centres, its industrial base, coastal communities, and its proximity to regional markets.
His proposals include a state bus mass transit system, commuter rail connections between Abeokuta and Lagos, a state-backed mobility platform, new economic clusters, and measures aimed at expanding industrialisation and job creation.
He also proposed reforms in agriculture, healthcare, education, security, environmental management, and local government administration.
Among the more ambitious targets reported from the engagement was the proposal to train 100,000 young people in digital skills by 2031 and pursue the creation of more than 500,000 jobs.
These are campaign commitments. And campaign commitments, by their nature, demand scrutiny.
The question is not simply whether the ideas sound attractive.
The questions are: What will they cost? How will they be funded? What is the timeline? Who will implement them? And how will citizens know whether they have been delivered?
Those are questions the media will inevitably have to ask.
*A promise to remember*
Perhaps the most significant part of the Abeokuta encounter was, therefore, not the political rhetoric. It was the invitation to remember.
Politicians make promises.
Journalists record them.
Citizens eventually ask what became of them.
By asking journalists to hold him to his manifesto, Adeola has effectively put his proposed agenda on record before the state’s Fourth Estate.
The NUJ, on its part, has also put its expectations on record.
The two documents may have different purposes, but they now form part of the public conversation surrounding Ogun’s journey towards 2027.
When the campaign season eventually gives way to governance, the most important question will remain the simplest:
What happened to the promises?
That is where the real work of journalism begins.
Not in applauding the promise.
Not in dismissing it.
But in remembering it, questioning it and reporting what follows.
