Senator Adeola
He took to the political scene by storm a few years ago, starting out as a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly. He crossed over to the House of Representatives. Today he is a senator. This is the political odyssey of Solomon Olamilekan Adeola popularly known as Yayi. Kayode Odunaro writes.
It is usual in social and political circles for leaders to be ascribed nicknames that to a large extent represent the attributes and virtues of the individual. For Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, his popular nickname is ‘Yayi’. Yayi is a sobriquet coined from the Yoruba name of ‘Omoyayi’ translating literally to “Distinguished Son”. Adeola is not only living a distinguished life, worthy of emulation and celebration but also a life positively impacting on many individuals and the development of Nigeria.
The Senator was born on August 10, 1969 at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital to Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (nee Akinola). His early childhood was at Alimosho where his parents brought him up to surmount many challenges of early life. Yayi began his education at 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. A man with a mission to fulfill in life, Adeola became a Chartered Accountant at a relatively young age. He is a distinguished Chartered Accountant-Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, (ICAN), a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation as well as a Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).
Adeola variegated experience in both private and public 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. In a profession where experience in a professional firm is a key proof of competence, Yayi resigned from “The Guardian” and proceeded to Olatunji Omoyeni and Co where he led the audit team for several years and was later promoted to the position of a Senior Auditor. Having cut his teeth in the accounting profession through education and practice, working for others, Adeola later established his company, SOOTEM Nigeria Limited, where he was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in the firm that specialized in tax consultancy until his foray to serve the public through partisan politics.
Following his decision to join active politics, Adeola pitched his tent with the progressive arm of Nigerian politics by joining the then Social Democratic Party (SDP). In spite of daunting challenges relating to military government, Adeola bravely continued with his foray into politics at the dawn of the 4th Republic. He was nominated and won the primary of the then ruling Alliance for Democracy (AD) and was elected as a member to represent Alimosho State Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2007 to 2011. A man of immense financial and political skills, he was appointed the Chairman of Finance Committee and Joint Chairman of Appropriation Committee of the Lagos State House of Assembly. In that position, he was reputed to be instrumental to the enactment of the law that strengthened the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. The legislation and reforms laid the foundation that catapulted the revenue of the state from a paltry N5billion monthly to over N20billion 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. Adeola can claim credit as part of the architects of the widely acclaimed recent development in Lagos State through the provision of legislative enactments and support for the executive arm of the state government in his 8 years stint as a state parliamentarian.
And 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 in Alimosho. The people of Alimosho 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/NECO forms and tutorials for indigent students as well as ICT training at NIIT for hundreds of youths in his constituency.
Without doubt, his sterling performance in public service of Lagos State naturally made him a first choice for promotion for national service. Adeola was nominated and elected to represent Alimosho Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives of the National Assembly in 2011. The tenure culminated in 12 years of unbroken legislative experience at both state and federal legislature. When the committees of the House of Representatives were to be appointed, 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 time member of the House.
His performance in that committee in relation to exposing corruption and sharp financial mal-practices of government agencies has attracted national attention. But for his effective oversight as the chairman, not many Nigerians would be aware of the “slush fund” called Service Wide Votes running into billions of Naira yearly. A serious move is on to abolish this from our budgetary system and curb the observed corruptive tendencies of what is a duplication of contingency fund in budgets of MDAs.
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. The new law when concurred to by the Senate will lead to the establishment of a Federal Audit Service Commission as well as grant autonomy to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
With the outstanding performance of his legislative responsibilities and effective representation of 12 years, the last four years being in the House of Representatives, it is small wonder that he was seen as the best leg forward for the vacant seat of senator for the Lagos West Senatorial District, the largest senatorial district in terms of population in Nigeria
Adeola won his closest rival with a margin of over 70,000 votes at the March 28, 2015 Presidential and National Assembly Elections. He indeed made history by moving through consecutive electoral victories from the State Assembly to the House of Representatives and to highest legislative body in Nigeria, the Senate.
Adeola, a Christian, is a believer in religious freedom for both Christians and adherents of Islamic faith. He is on record to have donated brand new buses to religious organisations of both faiths as well as sponsored several Christians and Muslims to Jerusalem and Mecca respectively on pilgrimage. The great philanthropist is happily married to his heartthrob, Mrs. Temitope Adeola, and the union is blessed with children.
At 46 years of age, Adeola is setting a worthy record of an experienced legislator par excellence. He is indeed a “Distinguished Son” that is now a “Distinguished Senator” of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
–kayodunaro@hotmail.com
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