APC Governorship Candidate Questions Use of Federal Allocations, IGR, Claims to Have Executed Over 70% of Ogun Roads in Two Years.
The political battle for the soul of Ogun State has taken a dramatic turn as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, launched a blistering criticism of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration, describing it as “lazy and clueless” while raising questions over the management of the state’s finances.
Adeola made the explosive remarks on Saturday on the sidelines of an APC stakeholders’ engagement in Ijebu-Ode, where he was confronted with demands for infrastructural development and improved governance in the ancient town, regarded as a major cultural and political centre of the Ijebu people.
In an unusually direct assessment of the incumbent administration, Yayi questioned why a serving senator had to take responsibility for attracting and facilitating road projects that, according to him, should ordinarily fall within the purview of the state executive.
“If Governor Abiodun is not lazy, he wouldn’t have been the one to be tarring roads as a Senator. It is the job of the executive to do some of these things that I am doing,” he reportedly declared.
The APC candidate claimed that he had facilitated more than 70 per cent of road projects across Ogun State within the last two years, insisting that his interventions were necessary because of what he described as a leadership vacuum in the state.
He also questioned what the Abiodun administration had done with increased federal allocations and improved internally generated revenue, demanding greater transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
“Why do we have a government in the state if Yayi has to be the one to do everything?” he asked.
Perhaps the most startling moment of Adeola’s remarks was his apparent admission that his extensive project interventions had exposed him to serious legal and political risks.
He disclosed that several petitions had been written against him over allegations of budget padding and other financial irregularities connected to projects he claimed to have facilitated.
“Let me confess, if I do not win the governorship, I will be going to jail because the petitions are just too many, and I must also confess, it is not all of them I will be able to defend in truth,” he reportedly said.
He, however, maintained that his actions were motivated by his commitment to his people and his governorship ambition.
The statement is likely to generate considerable controversy, particularly as it raises questions about the processes, authorisations and accountability mechanisms surrounding the projects he claims to have facilitated.
Adeola also challenged the state government to explain how public resources had been utilised, referencing reports questioning the transparency of Ogun State’s financial management.
In another significant declaration, the senator promised to investigate the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, if elected governor, adding that no individual would be beyond scrutiny if investigations uncovered evidence of wrongdoing.
He insisted that his administration would not tolerate corruption and would pursue accountability regardless of the political standing of those involved.
“If I become the governor, I will probe the SSG, Talabi, and if some of our investigations lead to the state’s chief helmsman, so be it. We cannot continue to condone corruption,” he reportedly stated.
The declaration represents a notable escalation in the political rhetoric surrounding the transition of power in Ogun State, especially considering that Adeola and Abiodun belong to the same political party.
Adeola also revisited the circumstances surrounding Governor Abiodun’s re-election campaign, claiming that he played a decisive role in rescuing the governor’s political fortunes when the election appeared to be slipping away.
According to him, Abiodun had contacted him around 5pm to 5:30pm to express concern over the unfolding electoral situation, particularly the difficulties confronting the governor’s re-election bid.
The senator claimed that the governor was visibly distressed when they eventually met, describing his eyes as red and swollen.
He further alleged that he mobilised political support from Yewa to help reverse the situation, insisting that he made extraordinary efforts to secure Abiodun’s return to office.
Adeola recalled that Ogun East had proved particularly challenging for the governor and suggested that his intervention was instrumental in changing the political narrative.
His account appeared to carry an unmistakable political message: that he had made sacrifices for Abiodun’s political survival and expected the people of Ijebu to assess his own governorship ambition differently.
Making a direct appeal to the Ijebu electorate, Adeola cautioned against treating his political ambition in the same manner as Abiodun’s experience, insisting that he possessed greater governance experience and stronger political connections at the federal level.
“I hope Ijebu people will not treat me the way they treated Dapo Abiodun because we are not the same people. I have better experience than him in governance and I have my links up there,” he reportedly said.
He also reaffirmed his commitment to grassroots interventions, declaring that his willingness to assist communities would not prevent him from demanding accountability where necessary.
“I am Yayi, I will never change. I will do what I can do for everyone, but where it requires accountability, I will also ask the right question,” he added.
Adeola’s comments have opened a fresh chapter in the unfolding political drama within Ogun APC, raising questions about the relationship between the outgoing administration and the party’s emerging governorship leadership.
That a sitting APC senator and the party’s governorship candidate would publicly describe an APC governor as lazy and clueless, question the management of state finances and threaten investigations into members of the same administration underscores the intensity of the political undercurrents ahead of the next governorship transition.
More significantly, his remarks have placed the issue of governance performance, public finance accountability and the distribution of political credit for infrastructural projects at the centre of the unfolding debate.
For Ijebu-Ode residents, who reportedly used the stakeholders’ engagement to demand more development, the encounter also exposed the difficult questions confronting the APC’s political leadership, who should be held responsible for the state’s development, and why should communities have to rely on federal legislators to secure projects that are ordinarily expected from the state government?
Whether Adeola’s declarations represent a genuine commitment to accountability or a calculated political repositioning ahead of the governorship contest remains a subject of public debate.
One thing, however, is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, the contest for Ogun State’s political future is already producing extraordinary confrontations within the ruling party itself.
