Yayi: Senator Extraordinaire @55

Kayode Odunaro

In the highest legislative body in Nigeria, the Senate, populated by many former state governors, Speakers of House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly, retired top military officers, professors, and other influential Nigerians, whose average age hovers around 65, it takes lot of doings not only to roll with the “big boys” but to be “a turn-to man” among your colleagues.

It takes loyalty, trustworthiness, hard work, professional competence and cognate legislative experience to be singled out to perform a national duty or give opinion on serious legislative matters. Such is Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, representing Ogun West Senatorial District. He is popular with the sobriquet ‘Yayi’.

Currently serving Nigeria as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Yayi at age 55 years has rendered quality representation to the people he has represented at all levels of legislature as well as served the nation meritoriously leading to his being awarded the national honour of the Commander of the Order of Niger, CON.

Indeed, Yayi is a man with many historical accomplishments in his legislative career spanning over 21 years and still counting. He has won six competitive democratic elections back to back from the state legislature through the House of Representatives at the federal level to now serving in the Senate for a third term.

Again, unprecedentedly, Yayi moved from serving in a senatorial district in one state to another senatorial district in another state with him at some point being a senator in one state and a senator-elect in another state. The record can only be rivaled in the future if possible. A real case of “No Rival”.

Senator Adeola did not achieve his current enviable status in the political sphere of the nation overnight. It took dint of hard work in the private sector and progressives’ political tutelage that kicked off in the populous Alimosho Local Government of Lagos State. He tasted his first political position as the elected state legislator representing Alimosho State Constituency1 in Lagos State House of Assembly in 2003. At the Assembly, where he was from 2003-2011, he was appointed the Chairman of Finance Committee and Joint Chairman of Appropriations Committee.

He was instrumental to the enactment of the law that strengthened the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. The legislative reforms laid the foundation that catapulted the revenue of the state from a paltry N5billion monthly to about N60 billion presently! He was also part of the legislative team that passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act of Lagos State, two laws that saw Lagos State qualifying to access developmental funds from international financial bodies like World Bank.

His performance during his two terms as a state legislator easily recommends him for promotion to the House of Representatives to represent the Alimosho Federal Constituency, unarguably the largest federal constituency in Nigeria in 2011. As a member of the House of Representatives, he was selected as the chairman of the only constitutional committee of the House, the Public Accounts Committee. It was a feat that he got this important post usually reserved for ranking members as a first-timer. In fulfillment of his core function as a legislator, Adeola sponsored and successfully pushed through to passage a bill that repealed the colonial Audit Act of 1956 and Re-Enact the Audit Act of 2014 on May 22, 2015. He equally embarked on unparallel constituency projects including empowerment in areas of education, health, ICT, employment generation and infrastructure.

It was not surprising that Yayi in 2015, got a further promotion from the electorate to serve in the highest legislative body in Nigeria, in the 8th Senate. He contested and won to represent, Lagos West Senatorial District, the largest senatorial district in Nigeria in terms of population of some 12 million constituents.

In the 8th Senate, Adeola sponsored 15 bills making him one of the first 10 senators in terms of bills sponsorship. Twelve of these bills were constitutional amendment bills with two of them passed by the National Assembly in the Constitutional Amendment of the 8th Senate.

Similarly, in the area of oversight activities of the 8th Senate and beyond the regular senate committees’ oversight that he was fully involved in, Adeola sponsored three motions, namely the motion to Investigate Non-remittances and Misuse of Revenue Generated by MDAs; the motion to investigate the Local Content and Cost Variation Elements of the $16 Billion Total Egina Offshore Oil Project and the motion to Investigate the near Bankruptcy of Etisalat leading to renege on Multi-Billion dollar loans. These three motions were passed into resolutions with two Senate Ad Hoc Committees headed by Adeola that investigated revenue generating agencies and the Egina project making many startling discoveries and recoveries of funds.

In 2019, it was not a difficult decision for the Lagos West electorate to return a legislator par excellence to continue his effective representation. Senator Adeola is indeed a man of history. In the 9th Senate, he was the one who seconded the motion to elect Senator Ahmad Lawan as President of the Senate. At the victory of Senator Lawan, he earned the parliamentary privilege of leading the newly elected president of the Senate to his presiding seat and taking the iconic picture alongside the mover of the motion and the Clerk of National Assembly. This photograph is only taken once every 4 years except there is a removal of President of Senate. And in a historic coincidence, in the 10th Senate, Senator Adeola played the same role in the election of Senator Godswill Akpabio and took the iconic photograph again. As written this feat is historic in every 4 years and more historical as Senator Adeola is the only senator to have achieved this feat twice in the parliamentary history of Nigeria.

He had served as chairman of Public Account Committee of House of Representatives (2011-2015), pioneer chairman of Senate Committee on Local Content (2017-2019), chairman of Senate Committee on Finance (2019-2023) and now in the 10th Senate chairman Senate Committee on Appropriations (2023- till date). His service to the nation over the years at still a relatively young age points to future elevation to position of greater responsibilities with his successes and experiences over the years.

Born on August 10, 1969 at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos State to family of Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye of Ago-Ishaga, Pahayi, Ilaro and Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (nee Akinola) from Kemta, Abeokuta, Yayi began his education at the State Primary School, Alimosho in Lagos State. On the successful completion of his primary education, he proceeded to Community Grammar School, Akowonjo, Lagos, for his secondary education. His quest for educational advancement in life took him to the prestigious Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo, now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State where he bagged the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting.

Adeola became a Chartered Accountant at a relatively young age. He is a distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, (ICAN) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. He is also a honourary doctorate degree awardee from the Federal University of Oye, Ekiti in Accounting as well as Fellow of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.

Adeola working experience in private sector finance started in The Guardian Newspapers Limited, where he put in almost 12 years of meritorious accounting service and rose to the position of Accountant.  He resigned from The Guardian and proceeded to Olatunji Omoyeni &Co where he led the audit team for several years and was later promoted to the position of a Senior Auditor.  Adeola later established his own company, Sootem Nigeria Limited, where he was the managing director and chief executive officer until his foray to partisan politics.

In all his years as a legislator, Adeola set the standard for effective representation that saw his repeated re-elections. He is noted for his numerous personal and constituency projects. The people of Alimosho Federal Constituency, Lagos West Senatorial District and now Ogun West Senatorial District can never forget his developmental initiatives in the area of provision of water through boreholes, provision of electric transformers, regular free medical programmes and rehabilitation of roads. Other areas of life changing programmes that are the hallmark of Yayi’s representation include educational empowerment and support in the form of building classrooms with ancillary facilities, annual purchase of GCE forms and tutorials for indigent students. In recent times, his incomparable massive empowerments have gone viral on social media with Yayi as now the reference point for effective representation across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

For the young man born 55 years ago in humble circumstance it looks movie-like to see the man Adeola making huge waves in national affairs and development. His meteoric rise as a technocrat politician winning six elections at state and federal levels across states consecutively apparently marked him out as a peoples’ politician you mess around with at your own political risk.

Adeola, a Christian, is a believer in religious freedom for all faiths. The great philanthropist is happily married to Mrs. Temitope Adeola and the union is blessed with children.

 At the age of 55 years, Yayi is setting a worthy record of an experienced legislator par excellence, a parliamentarian extraordinaire and one set for bigger service to the people and nation.

Odunaro wrote in from Abuja through kayodunaro@hotmail.com