Rumours that Senator Olamilekan Adeola, who represents Lagos West Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, is eyeing the Ogun gubernatorial seat come 2023 is causing unrest among Ogun State politicians and within the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senator Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has been a Lagos senator since 2015.
By 2023, the Accountant turned politician would have completed 20 years as a lawmaker representing Lagos at the State House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
Yayi spent eight years as a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Alimosho State Constituency 2, from 2003 to 2011.
From 2011 to 2015, he was a member of the House of Representatives, to represent Alimosho Federal Constituency.
He contested and became the Senator of Lagos West from 2015 to 2019. He contested again in 2019 and returned to the Senate.
But with all of these, the lawmaker appears not fulfilled as he is hellbent on ‘porting’ from Lagos to Ogun.
In 2015, his aspiration to become the Senator of Ogun West was unsuccessful, making him to relocate to Lagos West for the senatorial ticket.
He returned before the 2019 elections for a governorship ambition in Ogun State, winning more supporters with his ‘unrepentant’ style of spending.
However, his ambition to contest as the governor of Ogun State in 2019 was thwarted by the former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who was not convinced that Adeola was an indigene of Ogun State as was claimed.
As of today, the Senator’s real state of origin remains a subject of argument among Ogun indigenes as many are yet to accept that he is from Pahayi in Ilaro as they were made to believe.
It was reliably gathered that Yayi is currently putting efforts in top gear to give himself a soft landing in Ogun State by 2023.
With Prince Dapo Abiodun as Governor, Adeola reportedly believes the coast is now clear for his return to Ogun State politics after many years of representing the people of Lagos as a lawmaker.
“The political permutation is that Adeola would contest as a Senator in 2023 and as a Governor of the Gateway State in 2027.
“To garner supports for himself, the Lagos West Senator has hired foot soldiers, mobilizing people for his senatorial ambition in Ogun State.
“He has succeeded in hijacking many loyalists of Gboyega Isiaka and some few politicians in Ogun,” an inner source confirmed.
It was learnt that part of the strategies to win the hearts of Ogun West indigenes is the sponsoring of a bill for the upgrade of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro to a university of science and technology.
Aside from people whose bills he takes care of monthly, Adeola was said to have recently presented a transformer and the sum N10 million for the laying of cables to electrify the College of Agricultural Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Aiyetoro Campus.
At the moment, Adeola’s loyalists in Ogun State have launched a slogan known as ‘West2West’, describing how the Senator would, in their expectations, move from a Lagos West representative to that of Ogun West in 2023.
But, a spokesman to the Senator, Kayode Odunaro, said that Adeola has not declared interest in the Ogun West senatorial race.
Asked if it is true that Adeola would relocate from Lagos West to contest in Ogun West in 2023, Odunaro retorted, “I have no comment on that because I don’t know. That is his personal decision and I don’t know whether he has taken that decision at all.”
On his efforts in ensuring the upgrade of Ilaro polytechnic to a university, Odunaro said, “Ilaro polytechnic is a federal polytechnic and he is a federal Senator. He can pursue any policy on any federal Institution, maybe at the University of Abuja. He is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Reacting to the rumours that his donations were mainly to curry favour towards 2023 elections, Odunaro explained, “Yayi is a human being, he can donate to church or individuals. If a Hausa man comes to him and he gives him N1m from his pocket, does that mean he is planning to contest in Kano? People know Yayi as a giver, if he gives to communities that need something, if anybody wants to criticize him on that, let them criticize him for being good.”
The spokesperson confirmed that West2West is a slogan coined by Yayi’s supporters in Ogun State.
“If they say West to West, it is a concept and an idea. At the appropriate time, let’s see how it goes. But if you’re asking me if he is coming to Ogun West to contest, no comment on that for now. I don’t have any information on that for now.
“But, he is a Yoruba politician. A politician from the South West. So the interest of the South West is paramount in his heart. Whether Lagos West, whether Ogun West, whether Osun West; West to West,” Odunaro submitted.
Adeola’s political tour to Ogun State has been causing ‘ripples’ among politicians, especially those of Ogun West extraction.
Many are not pleased with the fact that the Lagos politician wields much influence in Dapo Abiodun’s government, as they lament that anybody seeking favour in the government or in the Ogun chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) must pledge loyalty to his group.
They expressed worries that a sizeable number of those in Abiodun’s cabinet are his loyalists, wondering if the Governor has a political structure of his own.
