Solomon Adeola Fires Back at Iyabo Obasanjo,

Says Politics is About Service, Not Refunds

In Ogun State politics, disagreements rarely stay private for long, and the latest one has turned into a public argument over what political loyalty is actually worth. Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly called Yayi, has fired back at Senator Iyabo Obasanjo’s claims that he promised to refund her campaign expenses.

Speaking to a gathering of Iyalajes and Babaalajes in Ilaro, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations rejected the allegation outright. He argued that governance is a commitment to the people, not an investment expecting a return from public funds.

Yayi explained that after emerging as APC’s governorship candidate, he reached out to several stakeholders, including Madam Iyabo, in the spirit of reconciliation. He said the gesture was made out of respect for her standing as a prominent daughter of Ogun State.

What followed, according to him, changed his view of her intentions. Her camp reportedly presented three demands: a Senate ticket for Madam Iyabo, reimbursement of campaign expenses, and formal recognition within his campaign structure.

But this is not at all what Madam Iyabo says.

According to her, the requests came from her political supporters, not herself. Furthermore, their intentions centre around inclusion and support for her structure, not personal enrichment.

The silence that followed the meeting proved costly. Weeks passed without contact from Yayi’s camp, and Madam Iyabo eventually defected to the PDP, quickly emerging as its Senatorial candidate for Ogun Central, precisely the ticket her camp had asked for and been denied.

It must be stated that her position on zoning has also shifted noticeably. She once supported the push for an Ogun West governor, Yayi’s zone, but has since argued that zoning should not determine the next leader, undercutting the very consensus argument behind his candidacy.

The full sequence, from joining APC in January to emerging as an opposition candidate by July, has fuelled Yayi’s argument that her loyalty was transactional rather than principled.

He remains confident that legal challenges to his candidacy will not survive scrutiny, and has framed the entire episode as proof that Ogun’s future should belong to those driven by service rather than by settlements.