Soon, the posters will come. The billboards will get bigger, political meetings will multiply and beautiful promises will fill the air. People who have hardly spoken about certain communities will suddenly remember their names. Aspirants will tell us what they intend to build, change and transform. That is politics.
We have seen it before
But before the noise becomes too loud, perhaps this is the right time for a quieter conversation about Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi. Not about what he may promise tomorrow, but about what he has already done.
That distinction matters because promises are easy. A politician can promise roads, hospitals, jobs, schools, water and electricity. It costs nothing to make a promise. The more useful question is: what did you do with the opportunity you already had?
Yayi has spent more than two decades in public service. His journey has taken him from the Lagos State House of Assembly to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate. Today, he represents Ogun West and chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriations. But spending many years in politics is not, by itself, an achievement. A footballer can spend many years on the pitch without scoring an important goal. What matters is the result.
And that is where Yayi’s story becomes interesting. On June 9, 2026, Punch reported that the Yayi Diaspora Movement had announced the rollout of no fewer than 53 developmental projects to mark Adeola’s third year representing Ogun West in the Senate. According to the report, the projects cut across areas such as roads, education, healthcare, town halls and police stations. The figure was announced by the Yayi Diaspora Movement, a group supportive of the senator, but it nevertheless provides a useful picture of the range of projects being associated with his representation.
There is an even more striking example in agriculture. On July 31, 2026, Punch reported that 2,557 farmers across Ogun State benefited from the second edition of Adeola’s agricultural empowerment programme. And this was not simply a gathering where farmers were given certificates and sent home.
The reported intervention included 10 tractors with attachments, 250 haulage tricycles, 1,500 knapsack sprayers, 8,000 bags of NPK and urea fertiliser, 1,000 solar and petrol-powered water pumps, 1,000 seed planters and 17 power tillers. Farmers also received improved seeds and seedlings and other farming inputs. Those numbers deserve attention because they represent practical tools of production.
Give a farmer a bag of rice today and his family will eat it. After some days, it is finished. Give that same farmer access to equipment, fertiliser, improved seedlings and irrigation support, and you may have helped him produce more food, increase his income and perhaps create work for somebody else. That is the difference between sharing and building. Perhaps this practical approach becomes easier to understand when we look at the man before the politician.
Before politics became his full-time calling, Yayi was an accountant. He worked for years at The Guardian Newspapers, practised auditing and went into tax consultancy. He qualified as a chartered accountant and eventually became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
Then came the State House of Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Today, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, he deals with one of the most important realities of government: there is never enough money to do everything everybody wants. Every community has needs. One wants a health centre. Another needs classrooms. Farmers need support. Young people need opportunities. Families need water and electricity.
Leadership, therefore, is not simply about having good intentions. It is about knowing what comes first, what gives the greatest benefit and how limited resources can be made to achieve more.
There is another part of Yayi’s political story that deserves attention: his relationship with the grassroots. Politics can change people. The higher some politicians rise, the further they move from ordinary people. The convoy becomes longer, the gates become bigger and access becomes harder. Yayi’s politics, however, has remained strongly connected to communities. Farmers, traders, artisans, young people, traditional institutions and community leaders remain important parts of his political engagement.
That connection matters because figures on paper do not always tell the whole story. A report may say thousands of people benefited from a programme. Sitting with the people tells you whether that programme actually changed their lives.
None of this means Yayi is perfect. No politician is. Neither should anybody pretend that one individual can wave a magic wand and solve every problem facing Ogun State.
The better approach is to examine the evidence. If someone says he cares about education, ask what he has done for education. If he talks about agriculture, look at his interventions. If he speaks about healthcare, examine the record. And if he talks about empowerment, ask whether people received temporary gifts or something capable of helping them earn a living.
Ogun has enormous potential. We sit beside Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest commercial centre. We have industries, agricultural land, universities, important border communities, professionals, traders, farmers and energetic young people.
Our challenge is turning those advantages into better everyday lives. That requires experience, financial understanding, knowledge of government and, importantly, connection with ordinary people.
Yayi has accumulated more than twenty years of experience across three legislative levels. His accounting background adds another dimension to that experience, while his current responsibility for appropriations places him close to decisions about how public resources are allocated. Ultimately, however, the record should speak. Look at the journey. Look at the projects. Look at the communities reached. Ask questions. Compare records and form your own judgment.
Because soon, the political season will become louder. There will be posters everywhere and almost everybody will have a wonderful story about tomorrow. But before tomorrow arrives, perhaps we should pay more attention to yesterday.
Promises tell us what a politician wants to do. A record tells us what he did when he had the chance. And before the posters take over Ogun, that may be the most useful conversation to have.
Lekan Odunlami
Michael Lekan Odunlami, Esq., is a legal practitioner based in Lagos. He writes on public affairs, governance and politics, with particular interest in Ogun State politics and issues affecting the everyday lives of the people. He can be reached at lekan@hotmail.com.
