Opeyemi Bamidele: The Man Who Ticks Many of Tinubu’s Boxes

In a Senate chamber often defined by loud ambition, Opeyemi Bamidele has built his reputation on quiet but super effective consistency. As Senate Majority Leader, the Ekiti Central lawmaker occupies one of the most demanding seats in the 10th National Assembly, one that requires managing competing interests without losing the bigger picture.

Bamidele’s path there did not start in Abuja but in the late 1980s as National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, a period that shaped his years as a defence counsel and pro-democracy advocate during military rule. He later worked closely with Bola Tinubu in Lagos, first as a special assistant, then as commissioner for youth and sports, and later for information and strategy between 2000 and 2011.

That tenure produced the completion of Teslim Balogun Stadium and renovations at Onikan Stadium and Rowe Park. His legislative record has since grown considerably.

Bamidele has sponsored more than 70 bills, seven of which established or upgraded federal institutions, including the elevation of Yaba College of Technology and the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti into full universities. As floor manager, he steered the Student Loan Act that birthed NELFUND, guided tax reform legislation, and sponsored the bill that restored Nigeria’s original national anthem in 2024.

He also chairs the Senate’s Ad-hoc Committee on the National Security Summit, which has held hearings across all six geopolitical zones while pushing for state police as a response to localised insecurity.

Back home in Ekiti Central, his empowerment programmes have reached thousands of small business owners with direct cash grants, tractors and equipment, alongside new marketplaces across five local government areas.

For a president managing a wide network of political interests, Bamidele’s combination of institutional experience, legislative output and loyalty to the progressive movement continues to place him among the figures President Tinubu can rely on.