BY BRIGHT JACOB
In early April, Solomon Adeola, aka, Yayi, representing Lagos West and chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, formally declared his intention to run for the Ogun West Senatorial District in the 2023 election.
Though the ‘rumour’ had long been on, the declaration happened at a well-attended political rally in Ilaro which was organized by a political pressure group, the West-to-West Convergence for Dapo Abiodun (W2W4DA).
The senator said he was heeding the clarion call of his people to return home to contribute to the development of his people as he has done for Lagos West as their senator in the last six years and counting.
“I want to thank God Almighty and the governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, my leader and governor and all other leaders from Ogun West for their interest in me and their well wishes leading to the event of today in Ilaro, the administrative headquarters of Ogun West. I am officially declaring to heed their call as their son to run as a candidate for Ogun West Senatorial District in the 2023 election.”
With that declaration, Adeola ended all speculations and doubts if he would indeed be “crossing” from Lagos State to continue his political career in Ogun State.
He used the occasion to also declare his total and unalloyed support for the incumbent governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun. He told the cheering crowd that indeed there was no vacancy at Oke Mosan, the seat of power in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
He assured that Governor Abiodun will be returning for a second term based on his achievements so far in his first term adding that his style of governance has ensured that all parts of Ogun State, down to the ward level has one development project or another to point to unlike what happened in the past with concentration of multi-billion-naira projects in some areas.
The senator also disclosed that over the years he has been contributing to the development of Ogun West Senatorial district through personal efforts and facilitation of projects which will increase in leaps and bounds if he is eventually elected as the senator representing Ogun West in the Red Chamber.
“I was the major donor to the multi- million- naira electrification of the College of Agriculture, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Aiyetoro Campus, I facilitated the construction of a modern library in the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro as well as the ultra- modern community multi-purpose pavilion at Asade Agunloye Pavilion, Empire Ground, Ilaro and numerous empowerments in skills acquisitions, training and grants for many indigenes. As a ranking senator, all these will come in multiples for Ogun West just as I am doing for Lagos West at present,” he said to cheers from the crowd.
The group subsequently upped the ante in early May when it presented him with the N20 million APC senatorial nomination form to enable the senator to contest for the APC primaries for the Ogun West senatorial poll.
Presenting the form, the chairman of the group, Ishaq Salako, said 71 members of the group contributed funds to buy it. He noted that Yayi, as a ranking senator is regarded as an asset to Ogun West, and also considering his contribution to Lagos West which he is at the moment representing in the senate.
Receiving the nomination form, Yayi said he was overwhelmed by the gesture. In fact, he became very emotional to the point of shedding tears of joy. He promised not to take their confidence in him for granted.
However, latest developments seem to suggest that Adeola is no longer enjoying the natural bounties of tailwinds in his quest to “go back home and give his people good representation.”
It is being stated now that the latest development in the zone may now make it difficult for the ebullient lawmaker to “relocate back home.”
Some APC stakeholders on Wednesday stoutly, kicked against the plans to hand over the party’s Ogun West senatorial ticket for the next election to a personality they described as a “foreigner.”
The stakeholders stated that the ticket for the zone to the senate “is not for sale.” They even went as far as alleging that Senator Adeola “is not an indigene of the state.”
The meeting which was attended by former commissioners, local government chairmen and members of the state House of Assembly from the region, firmly rejected the endorsement by some leaders from the zone.
The stakeholders denounced in no uncertain terms what they called an “aberration and illegal ambition” of the senator.
Leading the group, a former Chairman of Yewa South Local Government, Jimoh Akinlade, called on the leadership of the party to address the concern before it “leads to an embarrassment for the party.”
He said, “They should try to review what is going on in Ogun West Senatorial District, if they fail to do this, there is doom ahead somehow. We love the party, we love what the governor is doing, we don’t want any embarrassment for the governor, hence, they (should) do the right thing.”
In a communiqué that was issued after the meeting, the stakeholders resolved that the ticket of the zone has not been handed to Senator Adeola.
“We condemn in totality the attempt by the serving Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, known as Yayi, to jump ship and seek the mandate of Ogun West Senatorial district while still holding on to the one he currently occupies; a blatant illegality of the most despicable order.”
The communiqué reads in part, “The Committee of Concerned Ogun West Patriots Under the umbrella of ‘Ogun West Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders’ in the All Progressives Congress (APC), met today in Ilaro to discuss on the state of affairs in the Ogun West chapter of the party. After exhaustive deliberations, the meeting arrived at the following conclusions:
“That this meeting is a group of Concerned and patriotic Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun West; who are committed to the growth of the party and success of the current administration.
“Whereas, the party in Ogun State in whole has a semblance of order in its administration and processes, the same cannot be said of the Ogun West chapter that has been enmeshed in controversies and acrimony; most especially on the administration of the party in the district and the selection process of its senatorial candidate particularly.
“We condemn in totality the attempt by the serving Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, known as Yayi, to jump ship and seek the mandate of Ogun West Senatorial district while still holding on to the one he currently occupies; a blatant illegality of the most despicable order”
“As patriotic Yewa-Awori indigenes, we are disturbed at the turn of events and as equal stakeholders of the APC in Ogun West, we have risen up to serve as the conscience of our people; in curtailing the desperate plot to force an aberration down our throat, putting us in the news for wrong reasons and making us become a subject of ridicule in Nigeria today.
“It must be stated that the principles of participatory democracy presupposes that electoral contests must adhere to the fundamental ethos of fairness, equity, justice; and as guaranteed by extant laws of the land. Failure to uphold this noble standard will suggest that we are in a lawless society where rules and conscience have been dumped in the gutters.”
The stakeholders condemned the attempt to “jump ship” by Senator Yayi, saying “We condemn in totality, the attempt by the serving Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, known as ‘YAYI’, to jump ship and seek the mandate of Ogun West Senatorial district while still holding on the one he currently occupies; blatant illegality of the most despicable order.
“We are shocked and saddened that the inordinate ambition of Senator Adeola received the support of a section of the party in Ogun West, who has been going around promoting him and organizing all manner of sponsored events and spurious claims; all in the name of being “Ogun West Leaders.”
“We want to state emphatically that those who have done the endorsement of an aspirant are private supporters of that aspirant and do not speak for the generality of the Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders of Ogun West APC; because at nowhere did this senatorial district sit down to unanimously support or endorse any of the legitimate aspirants for the senatorial ticket of the party.
“We must reiterate that Ogun West is arrayed with patriotic and morally upright leaders who will not betray their fatherland by supporting illegality and assault on the land. Distinguished Senator Ayo Otegbola, Senator Akin Odunsi, Senator Kola Bajomo, Senator Gbolahan Dada, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, Hon Jimoh Olaifa, Hon. Kola Lawal, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, Hon Biodun Akinlade, Chief Biyi Otegbeye, Hon Salmon Adeleke and Chief Mrs Mary Ogunjobi and Mr Tope Kuyebi are notable names among several others, who are not part of the evil plot to foist the Lagos Senator on Ogun West.
“We find it distasteful, the lies and manipulations of those “purported leaders”, all in the bid to legitimize the smuggled aspirant into Ogun West. A clear example was when they said, Yewa Obas begged Asiwaju Tinubu to release the Senator to Ogun State. It took the denunciation of the same by some bold Obas for us to know it was all a gimmick. In a similar vein, they have used severally, the name of the Governor as a supporter of the gambit, to hoodwink people into joining the bandwagon of the attempt to import illegality to Ogun West,” the stakeholders declared in the communiqué.
A chieftain of the APC from the zone, told The Point, pleading not to be mentioned, that it will be difficult for the Lagos West senator to pull through considering the names of those who were mentioned in the communiqué as not in support of his gambit.
“Initially, it was thought of as a thing that would be a mere walk in the park. But as it is now, it would be a whole lot of shame for the zone to admit or say that no one is found qualified and capable to represent them. And very more annoying is the fact that there is a sitting senator as we speak now from the zone. It is not as if he has said he isn’t interested and has done so very badly that his people have publicly rejected him.
“What we are witnessing is the inability to bridle one’s political ambition. For goodness sake, there are people in the zone who are by far more qualified and are willing to represent the people. For now, it is going to be a very herculean task for him to scale through,” the responder vouched.
How Adeola will manage to steer the ship of his ambition to represent Ogun West in the state and therefore make history as a lawmaker who represented two contiguous senatorial zones of two different states remains to be seen.
