•To Enable Him Contest OGUN Governorship Poll
It is no longer news that the Senator currently representing Lagos West Senatorial Constituency, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (popularly called Yayi), will be running for the governorship of Ogun State, come 2019. He has come out to say so. And he has been working at it in the past 3 years. Already, work has gone far on the project: Yayi For Ogun Governorship. Though, much of the work is being done underground, across all the Local Government and LCDA areas in Ogun State, for months now, he has appointed Zonal Co-ordinators and heavy mobilisation is on going.
But his opponents have stepped up moves and efforts to frustrate his bid. Part of it is the unsubstantiated campaign that Yayi, (who officially is from Yewaland) is not from the area. They claimed he is from Lagos. Others say he is from outside Ogun State. It is interesting to note that many of those making such claims are from the APC. They are members of another faction loyal to the Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
It is no longer news that members of Ogun APC loyal to Gov. Amosun don’t like Yayi and they are not hidden it.
Many of them are believed to have generated a campaign that somebody, who has lived all his life in Lagos can’t come and take over in Ogun State.
But in all of this, Yayi is up against Gov. Amosun, who has a firm grip of the Ogun APC machinery. He has not hidden his opposition to Yayi’s attempts to leave Lagos and run for Ogun governorship. He has made his stance known repeatedly that he would support any Yewa candidate, as long as the person is not Yayi. He has also told Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, privately, that he should prevail on Yayi to stay back in Lagos and go back to his Lagos West seat.
Although Yayi has also stuck to his gun to run, whether Amosun likes it or not. There are, however, those who have begun to prevail on Yayi to leave Ogun APC for Amosun and pick the ticket of AD and run.
They cited the example of how ex-Ogun Governor, Gbenga Daniel, dumped the AD when he didn’t get the ticket and moved to the PDP.
He contested on the platform of PDP and won.
Yayi seems to enjoy the support and confidence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his political godfather, who supported him to be a Senator in 2015.
But his biggest obstacle remains the incumbent Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who is believed to have his eyes on a successor he has not mentioned for now.
Both Yayi and Amosun, have not been on good terms since Yayi attempted to come out in 2014 to run for a senatorial seat in Ogun State, but met stiff opposition from Amosun, who fielded his candidate for that seat.
So, all the attempts made by Yayi to come out from Ogun State have failed. He was compensated by Asiwaju Tinubu, who asked him to pick up the Lagos-West Ticket, which he did. Asiwaju, we heard, asked him to bid his time for 2019 on which he agreed.
City People can authoritatively reveal that right now, Senator Yayi is at a cross road: Should he stay on in the APC and confront Gov. Amosun and his loyalists or should he pick the ticket of AD and move his political machine to that party? All this while, Yayi had played it cool, avoiding to have any clash with Gov. Amosun. He had hoped he could get the elders to pacify Amosun, which has now failed.
If he decides to dump APC, he would be following the footsteps of both Otunba Gbenga Daniel and the incumbent Gov. Ibikunle Amosun,who left their former parties to run for governorship and won, on another party’s platforms
What kind of a person is this 48 year-old politician, who was born at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital to Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (nee Akinola).
Many don’t know he grew up in Alimosho, where he began his education at State Primary School, Alimosho, Lagos. He proceeded to Community Grammar School, Akowonjo, Lagos for his secondary education. His quest for knowledge took him to the prestigious Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, where he bagged a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting. He became a Chartered Accountant at a very young age and is a distinguished Chartered Accountant-Associate Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); He is also a distinguished member of the AAT.
Many don’t know Adeola had a stint with the flagship of Nigerian newspapers, The Guardian Newspapers Limited, for 12 years and rose to the position of Accountant.
He proceeded to Olatunji Omoyeni & Co, a Chartered Accounting Firm, where he led the audit team for several years and was later promoted to the position of a Senior Auditor.
He later established his own company, SOOTEM Nigeria Limited, where he was the managing director and chief executive officer. The firm specialises in tax consultancy.
Following his decision to join active politics, sometimes at the dawn of the 4th Republic, Adeola was nominated and won the primary of the then ruling Action Congress of Nigeria and was elected a member to represent Alimosho State Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2007 to 2011. He was reputed to be instrumental to the enactment of the law that strengthened the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, a legislation that catapulted the revenue of the state from N5 billion monthly to over N20 billion. He was also part of the team that passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act of Lagos State.
He was elected to the Federal Legislature to represent Alimosho Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in 2011.
And when the committees of the House were inaugurated by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal. He got position of the chairman of the only constitutional committee, the Public Accounts Committee of the House. He got the post as a first time member of the House.
Where Is Yayi from?
City People found out that he is a distinguished son of Ago-Isaga, Pahayi, Ilaro, Yewa in the South local government area of Ogun State.
City People was told how in the distant past, a bloody strife occured in the indigenous settlement of Isaga-Orile in Ilaro. The uprising forced many inhabitants to flee the town. Men of valour and conquest took refuge in the surrounding neighbourhood. The progenitors of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola found succour in the expanse land of Pahayi, Ilaro in Ogun State, where they settled and later christened the area Ago-Isaga, Pahayi, Ilaro.
Today, a 3rd generation offspring from the then settlers has come back home to liberate his people from the shackles of wants, stagnation and underdevelopment.
Adeola’s father, Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and mother, Madam Ogunleye Olasunbo Oluwaseun (nee Akinola), are of Yewa South and Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State respectively.
His Yewa lineage is as current as in the 3rd paternal ancestral origin from the Agbole Onibata, Ago-Ishaga, Pahayi in Ilaro. He is the fourth son of Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye, grandson to Ogundimu Sangoloni, and great grandson to Olege (third ancestral father). Ogundimu Sangoloni married two wives, Atikekerewoba Alake, and Alaba as first and second wives respectively.
Alaba, who hailed from Agbole Alapapo of Joga-Orile, Yewa North LGA of Ogun State, gave birth to only one child; Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye. A sizeable number of the evolved family are till today settled at Ago-Isaga, Pahayi, in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Governemnt Area of Ogun State.
They are involved in primary occupations like farming, trading etc.
According to Chief Micheal Adelani Ogundimu, the head of the Ogundimu family in Ago-Isaga, Pahayi, Ilaro, “In 1862, a civil strife led to the collapse of the then Isaga Orile, where every member of the community had to flee the place to find refuge elsewhere. Our grandparents found themselves first in Ago Isaga in Ilaro and later migrated to Pahayi. Pahayi is about a kilometer away from Ilaro then, but civilisation and development had led to the merging of the two communities and that led to the disappearance boundaries”.
He observed that the 3 Isaga men who settled at Pahayi were: Olege, Akanni and Akinola, are of the same parents. Olege later got married to an indigene of Ilaro in the person of Wumiloju (nee) Akande. Wunmiloju gave birth to Shangoade, Motawe and Ogundimu. Ogundimu gave birth to Ogunleye and five other children. Ogunleye is the father of Senator Yayi.
He went further to state that “The 1862 war sent the Isaga people fleeing to the present Republic of Benin. There is Iju-Ishaga and Ishaga Surulere in Lagos State and Ishaga Oke odan in Idiroko and in many other places. Senator Adeola was the Chairman of year 2015 Isaga Day celebration. The celebration is an avenue for all Isaga sons and daughters to meet and interact.
Senator Adeola’s immediate maternal lineage is of a very Egba origin, being born in Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Oluwaseun of the highly respected Akinola family. His maternal grandfather, Pa. Akinola Julius Sodipo (a.k.a. Baba Pupa) of the Kilaso compound in Kenta Odutolu, Abeokuta South Local Government Area, was widely respected as a very disciplined man, who lived for over 115 years and was a successful farmer and trader with exceptional leadership qualities.
Verifiable historical evidence reveals that his mother’s paternal grandparents were from Itoku before arriving Kenta in the present day Abeokuta South Local Governemnt Area of Ogun State. His mother’s grandfather, Nofiu Odu, gave birth to Julius Akinola Sodipo, the Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Oluwaseun (YAYI’s mother).
The famly’s farmland is in Asu, in Kobape Area of Obafemi Owode LGA, also in Ogun State. Asu is the District hub for 7 other settlements, while Kobape is sited within a Local Government Development Area Council. Madam Abeeni Olasunbo grew up at Ikija, also in Abeokuta South LGA.
Madam Olasunbo’s maternal root is in Olorunda, near Imala Village on the way to Ilaro. During her life time, Madam Abeeni Olasunbo was an active and prominent member of Egbe Alaro Cloth Dealers in the famous Itoku market, Abeokuta.
From the above narratives, Sen. Solomon Olamilekan Adeola is evidently rooted in both Yewa and Egba lineage of Ogun State.
Sen. Olamilekan Solomon Adeola’s political philosophy has been that of a very rich fighting tradition for political, social and economic rights of the people. He strongly feels that people should have access to basic necessities of life without hindrances. He believes in the enthronement of democratic tenet, principles of justice, rule of law, equity and civil liberty. He is also of the view that there should be entrenchment of true federalism in the polity. His dream is that of a Nigeria where your ethnicity, religion and economic status will not be an impediment to personal pursuit of self actualisation and growth in life.
As a young man, he was part of the many Nigerians, who protested the annulment of the June 12 Presidential election won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola. At a time when the country was heavily militarised, he joined forces with others youths in his neighborhood to challenge the annulment. It was in one of such protests that he lost his immediate younger brother, who was killed by stray bullets from the gun of a soldier of the Nigerian Army.
Rather than allow the unfortunate demise of his brother to deter him from pursuing his political belief, the incident instead spurred him to forge ahead. With a determination to serve humanity, he contested an Assembly seat into Lagos State House of Assembly in the 2003 and convincingly won the election, representing Alimosho Constituency 02, a post for which he was re-elected a second time in 2007 on the platform of the then Alliance for Democracy (AD), later Action Congress (AC), and Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) and now All Progressives Congress (APC).
