By Segun Olatunji
Providence and performance have continued to “conspire” to position
Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly called Yayi by his constituents and massive supporters, as the game-changer in the 2027 governorship race in Ogun State.
Effectively backed by his unprecedented performance in massive infrastructure provision and development in his Ogun West constituency, including road rehabilitation and provision of ICT facilities as well as widespread empowerment initiatives for thousands of residents, Senator Adeola Yayi’s proactive approach has really redefined grassroots representation and established a strong foundation for his 2027 governorship bid. His massive infrastructure drive has no doubt shifted the political landscape in Ogun State.
Senator Adeola Yayi, currently representing Ogun West in the Senate, has visibly transformed his entire senatorial district since his election into the Senate in 2023. His unprecedented performance as the lawmaker representing the area has brought strategic impact on the entire Ogun West and beyond.
By dint of his hard work as a lawmaker and his avalanche of achievements, Senator Adeola Yayi has proved beyond all reasonable doubts that he’s not just the normal representative but a “game-changer” whose unprecedented achievements are already reshaping the entire political landscape in Ogun State ahead of the 2027 gubernatorial election.
In no time, he has transformed to a political tool with which the Ogun West Senatorial District can realise its long-term ambition to produce the governor for the state for the first time, come 2027.
It was therefore not a surprise when last Monday, the powerbrokers in Ogun State, including Governor Dapo Abiodun, his three predecessors – Chief Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Senator Gbenga Daniel and Senator Ibikunle Amosun – in collaboration with the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state, at a strategic meeting, endorsed Senator Adeola Yayi as the ruling party’s consensus governorship candidate in the 2027 gubernatorial election in the state. This decision has been widely acknowledged and accepted by the people of the state in the three Senatorial Districts. The entire Ogun State has since been agog, as this unprecedented consensus governorship arrangement is widely being celebrated by everyone with the belief that Senator Yayi is coming to occupy the number political office in the state with the genuine intention of replicating his project-oriented achievements in Ogun West in the two other senatorial districts as the governor from 2027. The current excitement all over Ogun State is unprecedented in a state where political primaries had, before now, been a source of acrimony, dirty politics and even violence. It’s exhilarating news that this usually difficult and fearful stage has been peacefully passed this time round and the people are just looking forward to the election of a governor that will bring them real infrastructural development and mega-economic empowerment.
Just as Senator Adeola Yayi’s network of road construction and other infrastructure projects have linked various communities in Ogun West and the rest of the state, his sterling performance, reputation and appeal have brought together the entire people and the electorate of Ogun State in the three senatorial districts, who are happily queuing behind the ranking Senator, who is now the APC governorship candidate, waiting patiently to give him their votes in the 2027 governorship election in the state.
At this point in time, it is trite regaling ourselves with Senator Adeola Yayi’s myriad of achievements. However, to clear all doubts, it’s important we restate his modest but unprecedented achievements in some areas of life.
The ranking Senator has facilitated various educational advancements for the benefit of his constituents. His sponsorship of bills has culminated in the upgrading of the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro to a Federal University of Technology. This is in addition to his construction of various ICT centres and libraries in Ogun West and even beyond to encourage modern digital education and training.
Not leaving behind the people at the grassroots, Senator Adeola Yayi has also installed solar-powered streetlights/boreholes to bring modernity to the rural communities.
Over 100 communities have also been provided electricity transformers to improve electricity supply across his Ogun West constituency.
His mega- empowerment programmes have not only been touching lives, but also changing things for the better for his constituents. No fewer than 50,000 people have benefitted from Senator Adeola Yayi’s empowerment programmes, with artisans and other young people, after adequate training, getting grants and equipment to enable them take-off and subsequently become economically independent. Modern market facilities have also been constructed by the Senator across Ogun West.
The incontrovertible fact remains that the 2027 governorship contest in Ogun State will revolve around Senator Adeola Yayi’s impact, making him the undisputed game-changer in the state’s political turf. For now, he’s the cynosure of all eyes, blazing the political trail, not only in Ogun State, but also across the entire country
Senator Adeola Yayi’s direct engagement with his constituents has no doubt strengthened his popularity amongst the electorate, even throughout Ogun State.
With Senator Adeola Yayi’s unprecedented impact on the electorate, all other candidates for the governorship seat in Ogun State will need trailer tons of all the backing they can get to make even a fitful impact in the 2027 gubernatorial election, which promises to be a public endorsement of the political appeal and statewide popularity of a man who has not only built bridges, but also garnered unparalleled goodwill across the three senatorial districts of the state. What the other governorship candidates have failed to comprehend in Yayi is the fact that in politics, popularity, dexterity, generosity and wide appeals are all two sides of the same coin.
What many may also not comprehend is that Senator Adeola Yayi’s long years of labour in politics have earned him the avalanche of recognition, support, love, respect, and above all, the “consensus endorsement” he enjoys today all over Ogun State. In all his years of politicking, specifically for more than two decades, both in Lagos and Ogun State since 2023, he has never for once disappointed his constituents and supporters in the delivery of the dividends of democracy. For a man who has spent all of his political life cultivating tangible and real delivery of achievements, applying his “Midas Touch” to governance to change the situation in Ogun State for the better won’t be an uphill task.
Although Senator Adeola Yayi has been the target of some of the most vicious and virulent personal attacks ever launched against any politician in Ogun State, he has remained resolute, unperturbed and undaunted. He has refused to be browbeaten into silence and retreat. Despite their ferocity, he will not allow himself to be pummelled into submission by the sheer shenanigans of his mischievous critics. Above all, he has not allowed these distractions to derail his vision for the entire state, knowing full well that his political adversaries’ plots will always eventually collapse like a pack of cards. His astuteness, steadfastness and consistency in delivering have now paid off with his last Monday’s endorsement as the consensus governorship candidate of the APC for Ogun State.
In a nutshell, Senator Adeola Yayi’s proactive, project-heavy strategy has changed how politics will henceforth be played in Ogun State. His deviation from traditional politics in the state has skyrocketed his popularity and rating amongst the entire people of the state.
Today, Senator Adeola Yayi is acknowledged by the other sections of the state as the most competent political figure and the rallying point for the struggle of Ogun West to produce a governor for the entire Ogun State in 2027. The internal cohesion and unity amongst the people of the senatorial district championed by different groups, particularly the Ogun West Professionals for Yayi (OGWPY), have contributed in no small measure in making the dream of the Ogun West people to produce a governor for the state in 2027 a reality.
However, the incontrovertible fact remains that the 2027 governorship contest in Ogun State will revolve around Senator Adeola Yayi’s impact, making him the undisputed game-changer in the state’s political turf. For now, he’s the cynosure of all eyes, blazing the political trail, not only in Ogun State, but also across the entire country.
Omo Ogun ise ya!
Yayi ni jo, Yayi ni jare!
. Olatunji, a Journalist, Political/Crisis Communication Strategist, writes from Ilaro, Ogun State
