…How he short-changed others to overrun the system
As soon as Solomon Olamilekan Adeola was elected to the Senate in 2023, he began plotting to become Governor of Ogun State in subsequent elections. He identified all possible challengers, notably original indigenes from Ogun West and Ogun Central, especially those who were also elected to the National Assembly.
He identified the power of money to get him the ticket, and beyond amassing so much of it for himself, he made every effort to stop others from accessing it. He made sure that Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI) of Imeko Afon/Yewa North Federal Constituency and Hon. Abiodun Akinlade (Yewa South/Ipokia Federal Constituency) did not get any good House of Reps Committees where they could positively impact their people. He also made sure the N1billion constituency project envelope granted by the presidency was poorly funded. The implication was that most of them could not deliver a strong performance to straddle the political space and then contest power with Yayi.
The worst hit was his Senate colleague, Salisu Shuaib Afolabi, representing the Ogun Central senatorial district. Salisu was the preferred candidate of Prince Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State, followed closely by Gboyega Nasir Isiaka. He was singled out for elimination and rendered prostrate, as most projects that should have been captured under his envelope for Ogun Central were appropriated under Yayi’s Ogun West project. For example, many of the projects that were captured in the Appropriation for several towns in Ogun Central were recorded as being in Ogun West. For instance, road projects in Agbeloba Oriyarin in Abeokuta, Mowe, Ewekoro, etc were marked as Ogun West projects. This accounted for why many people believed that Salisu had a lacklustre performance in his first term, and affected his public ratings.
Most lawmakers in Ogun East were also rendered prostrate and painted in a bad light with their people. Femi Ogunbanwo in Ijebu Central was consumed; Adegbesan is struggling for reelection, having earned the sobriquet of a non-performer; and Elegbeji suffered a similar fate, surrendered to Yayi’s singular ambition.
The case of Tunji Akinosi in Ado-Odo/Ota Federal Constituency shows how a bubbling ambition was maliciously truncated midway in a vendetta-like vengeance for daring to challenge the mighty power of the rampaging Yayi from Lagos. For daring to support his kinswoman from Ota, the deputy governor of Ogun State, Engr. Noimot Salako -Oyedele in her legitimate aspiration to also contest for the governorship ticket. In Yayi’s lexicon, aspiration is an aberration; no one dares breathe when the rampaging forces are breathing. Yayi had to bring up his House of Reps colleague, Olugbenle, to neutralise both Akinosi and Noimot.
One of the most cerebral politicians in Ogun West, a performer who has empowered many youth in his constituency, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade, could not survive the power of Yayi’s ambition, as he retired so early in his political career. He could not get the governorship ticket; the Senate was taken over his head, and his future political ambitions were put in abeyance and truncated mid-res. GNI only managed to survive by the whiskers because the noise was too deafening, but he is surely on the final lap of his political career. He can never be a senator if Yayi truly gets the governorship; a ministerial appointment is his closest enemy because of the Ogun State configurations in Yewa, Ijebus, and Egbas. He also has to contest any major federal appointments with his Imeko kinsman, Kayode Oladele, who has become Yayi’s man-friday—the same fate which runs with Abiodun Akinlade.
Dr. Tade Akinmade