That Senator Solomon Adeola, currently representing Lagos West Senatorial District, is becoming the most powerful and popular politician in Ogun State at the moment is stating the obvious.
Adeola, who is now vying to represent Ogun West in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has endeared himself to all and sundry.
From the Lagos State House of Assembly, where he represented the good people of Alimosho constituency 02 from 2003 till 2011, to when he represented the whole of Alimosho Local Government in the Federal House of Representatives in Abuja and then becoming the Senator for Lagos West, Yayi, as he is fondly called, has remained one of the most experienced lawmakers in the country.
Before the 2019 elections, Adeola, who is the Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Finance, had attempted to shift his political base to Ogun where he originally hails from and committed a lot of resources, both human and financial, towards the actualisation of his dream. But this did not go down well with the then governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who saw it as an affront to his political power.
Society Watch gathered that he was forced to drop his ambition in the face of stiff opposition from Amosun who allegedly used his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari to put a spanner in the works of Solomon, whom he sees as a thorn in his flesh. In the end, Amosun left office, without succeeding in his plans to install his preferred successor, Adekunle Akinlade.
In the face of this development, Adeola staged a dramatic comeback in an unprecedented manner and won the ticket as the APC’s candidate at the Upper Chamber. To say this shocked many political observers in the state is an understatement. He trounced other contestants from his constituency and made them redundant.
Looking at the life of the Aremo of Yewaland, one will see a life of consistency built over the years as a politician with class, panache and camaraderie among his leaders, contemporaries, constituents and even his mentees that spread across the country.
When he was Chairman of Public Account in the House of Representatives, accountability, bookkeeping and critical scrutiny were beamed on various government agencies, and his name got a national mention at different times.
As a politician, Yayi knows his onions; he is popular and skilled in the art of grassroots politics. This explains why, despite serving the most populous senatorial district at the moment, his people in his hometown Ogun ensured that the accountant cum taxation expert won the Senatorial ticket of his party, APC, in Ogun West.
