Kayode Odunaro, the Chief of Staff to the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District at the National Assembly and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State for the 2027 general election, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, otherwise known as Yayi, has dismissed the insinuation that the senator will invade Ogun with technocrats from Lagos if he is elected as governor.
Odunaro equally punctured the “sponsored political narrative” that Senator Adeola is not an indigene of Ogun but Ekiti State, attributing the narrative to those he described as “political Buccaneers” who are afraid of the political strides of the senator.
Featuring on a radio programme, Political Forum, in Abeokuta, at the weekend, he said though the senator played active politics and occupied political offices over the years in Lagos State, he has been engaging and working with politicians and professionals domiciled in Ogun since he returned to the state.
According to him, Senator Adeola has continued to champion the empowerment of residents of the state even before he emerged as the senator representing Ogun West in 2023, noting that the rumour making the rounds that as a governor, he would flood his administration with Lagos politicians and technocrats was nothing but the machination of the opposition.
Odunaro observed that just like several indigenes of Ogun State who have made their marks in politics, governance and business in the neighbouring state, Yayi’s connection with Lagos over the years was to garner the needed political experience, exposure and capacity to deliver good governance to his people in Ogun where he hails from.
He posited that all the former governors of the state and the incumbent governor have all attachments to Lagos State, yet, they have all delivered good governance as the number one citizen of Ogun, respectively.
The Chief of Staff to Senator Adeola, however, allayed the fear that “outsiders” will dominate his administration as a governor, noting that “he has demonstrated his genuine and sincere passion to develop and transform the state through delivery of infrastructural projects, economic empowerment, education development and various socioeconomic interventions he had facilitated to Ogun West, and by extension, to the Ogun Central and Ogun East senatorial districts, respectively”
On the issue of Yayi’s true origin, Odunaro said that just like himself, the senator is historically a native of Isaga-Orile whose families were dispersed by the Dahomey War to Ilaro, Lagos, Benin Republic and other locations.
He added that those claiming that the senator hails from Ekiti are not only playing bad politics, but lack empirical evidence to back up their “spurious claims”.
“Honestly, I am not baffled by this spurious claim that Senator Adeola is from Ekiti State. Both of us share many things in common; we are both originally and historically from Isaga-Orile which is a pure Yewa native land. It is in the history that the town was sacked by the warriors from Dahomey now the Republic of Benin, and the people were dispersed to so many other towns. For our families, we later settled in Ilaro, and for generations that is where we have lived. So, there is no iota of doubt that Yayi is a true son of Ago Isaga, Pahayi in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State.
“In fact, I laughed when I watched a suspended governorship aspirant on a live TV programme claiming that the senator is from Ekiti State. But, the person failed to mention the actual town in Ekiti when the anchor person asked him. Can you now see that the claim cannot be substantiated?
“Since 1999, every governor in Ogun state has been linked to one state or the other. Aremo Olusegun Osoba was claimed to be from Osogbo, while Otunba Gbenga Daniel was said to hail from Edo or Delta State. But today, he is a serving senator representing Ogun East. Even, Senator Ibikunle Amosun was said by some people to be a Fulani man. That chronicle alone is enough to tell you that those political Buccaneers have been following the same pattern and weaving the same narratives over the years. For the records, Senator Adeola is a bonafide native of Yewaland and true indigene of Ogun State, and anybody who is in doubt can approach the court of law”, Odunaro stated.
Speaking on the former governorship aspirant of APC in Ogun, Abayomi Semako Hunye, he insisted that Hunye scored zero during the governorship primary.
According to Odunaro, Hunye never participated in the exercise at a designated venue, rather, he gathered people in a private residence to vote and recorded it as an authentic primary.
He added that apart from the illegality, the former governorship aspirant had earlier been suspended by his ward in Tube, Ipokia Local Government Area and the state executive council of the party ratified and transmitted such to the National Working Committee of the APC.
“To me, Hunye is a joker and habitual political negotiator. He has been engaging in such shenanigans since and has been getting appointments afterwards. People may not know, he is not always a serious contender, but always finds a way to rigmarole himself into the government. This is the same thing he did during the APC governorship primary in the state.
“Anyway, his case has been reported by the national organ of the APC to the Inspector General of Police. This is because he went ahead to pick a running mate, when the party had already declared Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola as the authentic governorship candidate of the party.
“Hunye’s matter is being handled as an internal affairs of the party. Also,the matter is in court, so, let us wait for the outcomes”, Odunaro explained.
On the 2027 election, he expressed confidence that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Adeola and all the APC candidates in Ogun State will emerge victorious.
He defended the various economic reforms and policies of President Tinubu-led administration, which according to him inherited a “totally broken down” vehicle.
“The President Tinubu-led administration has been busy repairing the totally broken down vehicle of Nigeria. Of course, Nigerians are feeling the discomfort now due to the ongoing repairs. But, in the next four years under President Tinubu, Nigerians will begin to enjoy a newly rebuilt country as the repairs and reforms will start to impact positively on the people”, Odunaro submitted.
