Femi Ogbonnikan
Within the unfolding political contest for Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), popularly referred to as Yayi, seems to be construction his marketing campaign round a easy however compelling message: “Yayi ni, Yayi ni jọ̀ọ́.”
Past its catchy rhythm, the slogan tasks self belief, reinforces his political id and seeks to be in contact a way of popular acceptance.
From okada riders and delivery union participants to investors, artisans, pros and civil servants, the marketing campaign message is designed to resonate throughout other segments of the state.
But past the joy surrounding the slogan lies a extra basic query: what has Yayi finished to earn the goodwill he’s banking on as he positions himself for the governorship? For a political candidate searching for to manipulate a state as politically mindful, enlightened and economically numerous as Ogun, goodwill isn’t constructed on slogans on my own.
It grows from relationships, accessibility, perceived efficiency and the power to display that political affect can translate into tangible advantages for the folk.
In Adeola’s case, his legislative adventure, political community and rising visibility in Ogun State represent vital parts of his attraction, however it’s his file at the floor that provides weight to the mantra.
Adeola’s political profession has taken him throughout the Lagos State Area of Meeting and the Area of Representatives prior to his election to the Senate, the place he represents Ogun West Senatorial District.
This revel in throughout other legislative ranges supplies him with an figuring out of lawmaking, public finance, constituency illustration and the workings of presidency.
For his supporters, that background is a very powerful qualification for a governorship contest that can call for no longer simplest political management but additionally administrative competence and the capability to navigate competing pursuits.
Most likely probably the most important institutional merit he brings to the political equation is his place as chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The committee occupies a pivotal position in Nigeria’s budgetary procedure, overseeing the honour of the federal price range and taking part in a big position in scrutinising proposed expenditure and coordinating legislative paintings on appropriations.
At a time when public sources are stretched and the call for for building continues to upward push, that have is significant as a result of budgeting determines how public finances are allotted amongst infrastructure, schooling, healthcare, safety and different priorities.
For Ogun State, Adeola’s familiarity with federal price range negotiations and public expenditure supplies a platform from which he may suggest for tasks and projects that receive advantages the state, whilst additionally serving to him perceive the connection between federal allocations, state price range and the sensible calls for of building making plans.
Alternatively, the true measure of efficient illustration will have to in the end be present in verifiable results, and that is the place the Yayi narrative strikes from politics to proof.
In simply over 3 years as Senator for Ogun West, Adeola has facilitated what unbiased observers describe as an infrastructure revolution.
Talking on the Iganmode Cultural Pageant in Ota in December 2025, he disclosed that about 300 tasks were finished around the district, a determine that has persevered to develop.
The breakdown is revealing and touches each crucial sector. It contains over 115 street development and rehabilitation tasks, 30 college structures comprising greater than 150 new school rooms, 32 number one healthcare centres, two in depth care devices, 25 fashionable markets together with the landmark Agbara and Igbesa Ultramodern Markets and the Obada Ultramodern Marketplace in Imeko-Afon, 13 the city halls together with the Omidokun Extremely Trendy Corridor in Ayetoro, 10 ICT centres, two libraries and 8 police stations together with the Idiroko border station to enhance safety in border communities.
Strategic corridors that were deserted for many years were opened, together with the Imasayi-Ayetoro Street, the Ilashe-Koko-Alari Street, the Ilara-Ilashe 25-kilometre border hall linking agrarian communities to markets, the Ilaro-Owode Street, the Atan-Agbara Street, the Kajola and Iboro community, Baba Emili Street in Ilaro, Isale Araba Street, Ebute Igbooro Street and Palace Roads in Imeko and Afon. Those aren’t simply tasks; they’re responses to the systemic overlook that Ogun West had suffered for over 50 years, the place dilapidated roads and institutional abandonment had been the norm.
Within the energy sector, his intervention has been similarly planned. Over 200 electrical transformers were donated and put in, 250 sun streetlight tasks comprising about 26,000 poles were deployed, and private intervention to fix 10 main electrical energy infrastructures affecting about 100 communities, together with the Ilaro to Ibeshe 33KV line, has restored hope to companies and families.
In early 2026, to mark his 56th birthday, he donated transformers to Ijebu Imushin, Ishagunse and Itele in Ogun East, signalling a variety of his developmental succeed in past Ogun West and demonstrating a statewide outlook this is a very powerful for a governorship ambition.His solution to illustration is going past concrete and mortar.
Constituency illustration additionally comes to keeping up touch, figuring out wishes and making sure communities don’t really feel deserted after elections, and Adeola’s empowerment structure is possibly his maximum direct reference to the folk.
The flagship is the “Oloja Yayi” Marketplace Enhance Fund. What began on February 6, 2023, with N25,000 grants to five,000 investors all over his Senate marketing campaign has advanced right into a statewide micro-financing scheme in partnership with the Nationwide Productiveness Centre.
On January 28, 2024, some other 5,000 investors around the 5 native governments of Ogun West gained N50,000 every. By way of April 27, 2025, the grant were larger to N75,000. In July 2026, 4,000 investors in Ogun West gained N75,000 every on the Asade Agunloye Pavilion, Ilaro, after equivalent workouts for three,000 investors in Ogun Central at Ake Palace, Abeokuta, and 1000’s in Ogun East in Ijebu-Ode, thereby overlaying all 3 senatorial districts. Cumulatively, over 15,000 marketplace women and men have benefited from direct grants, whilst over 50,000 constituents were empowered thru ability acquisition, apparatus reinforce and money grants.
That is designed to counterpoint Governor Dapo Abiodun’s “Okowo Dapo” and the Federal Govt’s TraderMoni schemes, however with greater price tag sizes that give protection to investors from mortgage sharks and assist them restock in an technology of top inflation. In agriculture, the place Ogun West serves because the meals basket of the state, about 6,000 farmers have gained reinforce together with tractors, energy tillers, progressed seedlings and N100,000 money grants in step with farmer, whilst artisans around the district have gained tricycles, mini-buses, grinding machines, stitching machines and vulcanizing machines that translate without delay into day by day source of revenue.
Past markets and roads, human capital building has been central to his fashion.
In schooling, with the exception of the greater than 150 school rooms throughout 25 places together with 12-classroom blocks at Ansar Ur Deen Number one College, Igbogila and Technical Faculty, Joga-Orile, Ayetoro, his maximum huge intervention is legislative and structural, taking part in a pivotal position within the transition of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, right into a Federal College of Era, thereby giving Ogun West its first federal college and increasing get right of entry to to better schooling for 1000’s of younger humans.
He has additionally instituted a N200 million scholarship and bursary scheme for over 1,600 tertiary scholars throughout Ogun State, easing tuition power for households suffering from subsidy removing and making sure that monetary constraints don’t minimize brief educational goals. The ten ICT centres he facilitated are provided to coach younger humans for virtual jobs, whilst mini-stadiums and vocational centres supply platforms for abilities acquisition and sports activities building.
In healthcare, the 32 number one healthcare centres and two ICUs are complemented by way of loose clinical outreaches, medical insurance enrolment for susceptible constituents and upgrading of interior roads in state hospitals in Ilaro and Imeko, bringing care nearer to people who want it maximum.
This mix of philanthropy and building, from scholarships to well being reinforce, reinforces the belief of accessibility and responsiveness that underpins the Yayi logo.
However, the glory will have to be made between keeping an influential legislative administrative center and demonstrating the capability to manipulate.
A senator’s position in federal appropriations isn’t like a governor’s duty for managing a state’s price range, supervising the civil carrier, enforcing insurance policies and turning in public services and products.
Adeola’s subsequent stage problem, due to this fact, is to turn how his legislative revel in and constituency fashion can translate into an efficient, clear and people-centred management for all of Ogun.
Political goodwill stays a very powerful foreign money in Ogun’s governorship race, and Adeola’s marketing campaign slogan seeks to show title reputation right into a broader motion, presenting him as a candidate whose attraction extends past established political circles.
His speedy fear is to maintain that attraction throughout Ogun West, Ogun Central and Ogun East, whilst addressing the distinct expectancies of communities around the 3 senatorial districts. What is obvious, alternatively, is that “Yayi ni Jọ̀ọ́” didn’t emerge from a billboard.
It emerged from markets the place investors have gained grants, from communities the place transformers now hum after years of darkness, from roads the place dusty tracks turned into asphalt, and from school rooms the place youngsters now take a seat below new roofs.
In the end, the Yayi venture will likely be judged no longer just by the amount of marketing campaign enthusiasm it generates however by way of the power of its coverage time table, the credibility of its guarantees and the proof supporting its file.
His legislative revel in, his strategic place as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, his infrastructure footprint spanning roads, energy, well being and schooling, and his empowerment and philanthropy touching over 50,000 lives supply a basis on which he can construct his case.
For Ogun State, the stakes in 2027 transcend slogans and sentiment.
The state wishes a pacesetter who understands its range, who can stability the commercial energy of Ogun Central and Ogun East with the developmental yearnings of Ogun West, and who can convert federal leverage into state merit.
Adeola’s trajectory suggests he has constructed greater than title reputation; he has constructed a political economic system of goodwill anchored on visual tasks, direct empowerment and sustained presence.
From roads that reconnect farm settlements to markets, to transformers that revive small companies, to grants that stay investors afloat and scholarships that stay scholars at school, his interventions discuss to a fashion that prioritizes humans over rhetoric.
But the governorship calls for greater than constituency touchpoints. It calls for a statewide blueprint for commercial enlargement, for agro-processing, for early life employment, for healthcare and for fiscal self-discipline. If Yayi can translate the momentum of “Yayi ni jọ̀ọ́” right into a coherent time table that assures each a part of Ogun that their pursuits will likely be secure and their doable unlocked, then the goodwill he has banked might certainly develop into the capital that delivers the Govt Area.
The slogan has finished its activity of opening ears. What stays is to provide the plan that can win hearts and safe the longer term.
*Ogbonnikan writes from Okeagbede, in Imeko-Afon LGA of Ogun state.