By the time Ogun’s gubernatorial hopefuls had begun printing flyers and plotting alliances, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (better known by his moniker, Yayi) had already laid down a mosaic of quiet victories. Not the kind measured in headlines or hashtags, but in kilometres of road, classrooms repaired, traders revived, and alliances, oh, so delicately brokered.
To the unbothered Nigerian onlooker, Yayi might appear to be just another senator navigating the potholes of federal politics. But speak to a market woman in Ilaro, a student in Ota, or a party stalwart in Abeokuta, and you’ll hear it: a name spoken not with bombast, but with something approaching reverence.
Yayi has been many things: a chartered accountant, a seasoned lawmaker, and now chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Appropriations. But it is his transformation into the political lodestar of Ogun West that most startles even his fiercest detractors.