By Segun Olatunji
The desperate, crying-baby caucus of the Ogun State opposition has officially hit a new, pathetic low in its ongoing campaign of hallucination.
Their latest collective meltdown centres on a single, embarrassing truth: they cannot win an election on merit, so they have turned Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly called Yayi, into their permanent, multi-purpose scapegoat.
The recent statutory suspension of the Eselu of Iselu, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, by the state government has sent these political bottom-feeders into a blind panic. Rather than admitting they dragged a traditional ruler into their lawless political gutter, they have launched a coordinated campaign of lies, claiming Yayi orchestrated the suspension as a “political vendetta.”
Let us drop the polite diplomatic language and speak with the aggressive candour this foolishness deserves. This is not a political vendetta; it is the unyielding enforcement of constitutional law.
The opposition’s hilariously clumsy attempt to shield this illegality behind Section 40 of the Constitution—which guarantees freedom of association—reveals their profound legal illiteracy. No constitutional right is absolute. Just as military officers, judicial officers and civil servants give up their right to partisan activism the moment they take office to protect the integrity of the state, monarchs are legally bound to absolute neutrality. You cannot pocket state-allocated allowances, claim the title of a neutral cultural custodian, and then hop on politicians’ campaign trucks. When a monarch flagrantly violates the very laws that legitimise his stool, the Executive arm of government has a statutory obligation to enforce discipline
For years, the opposition has operated under the delusion that traditional crowns are bulletproof vests against statutory regulations. The legal architecture governing traditional institutions in Nigeria is absolute. Under the Chiefs Law of Ogun State and prevailing constitutional frameworks, traditional rulers are strictly prohibited from engaging in active, partisan politics. They are public officials funded by taxpayers, tasked with being the neutral fathers of all citizens. When Oba Akinyemi chose to convert his sacred royal stool into an unofficial campaign headquarters for politicians, he willfully stepped outside the protection of the law.
The opposition’s hilariously clumsy attempt to shield this illegality behind Section 40 of the Constitution—which guarantees freedom of association—reveals their profound legal illiteracy. No constitutional right is absolute. Just as military officers, judicial officers and civil servants give up their right to partisan activism the moment they take office to protect the integrity of the state, monarchs are legally bound to absolute neutrality. You cannot pocket state-allocated allowances, claim the title of a neutral cultural custodian, and then hop on politicians’ campaign trucks. When a monarch flagrantly violates the very laws that legitimise his stool, the Executive arm of government has a statutory obligation to enforce discipline.
Yet, the keyboard warriors on the Nairaland Forum, led by fictional or real internet trolls, want us to believe that Yayi—a legislator in the Senate — commands the entire executive machinery of Ogun State. They even claim he is threatening the Alake of Egbaland and the Akarigbo of Remoland with dethronement. What an insult to the revered, unshakeable thrones of Egbaland and Remoland! What an absolute display of administrative ignorance. Yayi does not possess, nor has he ever claimed, executive powers to hire or fire traditional rulers. The opposition is simply terrified of his shadow.
The truth behind this frantic, aggressive smear campaign is painfully transparent: the opposition is utterly terrified of the 2027 governorship race.
They know that Yayi is the undisputed, overwhelming choice of the electorate to succeed Governor Dapo Abiodun. While the opposition spends its days cooking up wild conspiracy theories on internet forums, Senator Adeola is busy executing a masterclass in governance, building an unstoppable momentum that has made him the preferred candidate across all three senatorial districts.
Voters are not backing Yayi because of propaganda; they are backing him because of an unprecedented, undeniable mountain of achievements:
- Massive Infrastructure Development: Under his representation, Ogun West and surrounding areas have witnessed an infrastructural revolution, including the construction of over 140 roads (such as the massive 103km Ilara–Ilashe Road linking 26 communities) and the installation of over 50,000 streetlights.
- Educational Transformation: He has single-handedly funded scholarships and bursaries for over 5,500 students, constructed 340+ classroom blocks and libraries and provided state-of-the-art ICT centres across local schools.
- Healthcare Interventions: His office has delivered over 60 healthcare and ICU centres, providing life-saving medical interventions to more than 30,000 vulnerable beneficiaries.
- Security & Agriculture: To ensure the safety of his people, he has built multiple ultra-modern police facilities, including a new Area Command station in Imeko-Afon, while simultaneously equipping local farmers with nearly a million bags of fertilizer.
This is the track record that has earned him the sole endorsement of the Ogun State All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus, the backing of critical socio-cultural groups like the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ogun and the open blessings of genuine, law-abiding traditional rulers across the state.
The opposition’s systematic scapegoating of Yayi is nothing more than a pre-emptive excuse for the electoral beating that awaits them in 2027. They have no development blueprint to compete with his ITESIWAJU Agenda, no matching record of empowerment and no message for the people.
The era of using royal stools as disposable shields for lawless, failed political ambitions is over. The state government will enforce the rule of law without apology. To the opposition: stop the weak, cowardly crying, accept your impending political retirement and realise that no amount of cheap blackmail will stop an achiever whose time has come. It’s Yayi O’clock in Ogun State.
. Olatunji, a Journalist, Political/Crises Communication Strategist, writes from Ilaro, Ogun State
