Senator Yayi Nets Hat-Trick Of Giant Strides All In A Week

Within seven days, Senator Yayi recorded three decisive, strategic outings that have effectively redefined the tempo and texture of engagement ahead of 2027. Each outing spoke to a different pillar of leadership. Together, they form a coherent statement of intent.

The first was the return of light to Ogun Waterside. The flag-off of the Abigi power restoration project is arguably the most transformational intervention by any elected representative in Ogun State in recent years. At Abigi, the headquarters of Ogun Waterside Local Government, Senator Yayi flagged off a N1 billion electrification intervention to end nearly two decades of darkness in about 50 communities, including Abigi, Iwopin, Ayila, Ibiade, Efire and Ilushin.

This was not a campaign promise; it was a direct response to a generational wound. For years, the riverine belt of Ogun East has been locked out of economic opportunity due to total blackout. What Senator Yayi brought was a solution, not a slogan. Stakeholders across party lines have rightly described it as a major breakthrough capable of stimulating socio-economic growth. That is the Yayi doctrine: he goes where the pain is deepest. It is consistent with his record of initiating 12 power projects across Ogun State to tackle prolonged outages crippling small businesses, and executing over 852 infrastructural projects that have neutralised geographical limitations by spreading development beyond Ogun West into Ogun Central and Ogun East.

From the creeks of Waterside, Senator Yayi then moved to the heart of Ijebu heritage, Ijebu-Ode, to pay homage to the Ijebu Traditional Council. In Yorubaland, you do not seek to lead a people whose history you do not revere. Senator Yayi understands this sacred ethos. His engagement with the custodians of Ijebu culture was marked by humility, clarity of vision and profound respect for the Awujale stool and the entire Ijebu Traditional Council. He presented his agenda not as an outsider, but as a true son of Ogun State, framing it as a continuation of the collective aspiration for industrial expansion, infrastructure renewal and inclusive growth, an agenda he has already started unveiling.

The reception was warm, organic and dignified. The Obas saw a man prepared, not desperate; a man consulting, not campaigning. This is how consensus is built. It is therefore, no surprise that beyond emerging as the consensus gubernatorial candidate of his party through an overwhelming endorsement, he is today the consensus choice of the generality of Ogun indigenes and residents. It was at that hallowed hall that the Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo, Oba Lawrence Jaiyeoba, formally endorsed the Senator and publicly revealed that the late Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, while alive, had confided in many of the 56-member Council of Ijebu Obas that for 2027, the Ijebus would stand with Senator Yayi.

Then, on Sunday, ahead of the September date fixed by INEC for the commencement of official campaigns, Senator Yayi unveiled his campaign office in Abeokuta to set his team in motion for the task ahead. This third outing within a single week drew hundreds of party faithful and put a bold exclamation mark on the political discourse across the state. Abeokuta is the capital, the melting pot of Ogun politics. By unveiling a functional, strategic campaign office in the heart of Egbaland, Senator Yayi sent a clear message: this is not a sectional project; this is an Ogun State project. The office will serve as the nerve centre for broad-based mobilisation, building on existing structures like Caucus 7202, a formidable warehouse of independent support groups spread across the state. The symbolism was not lost on observers. While others are still negotiating acceptance, Yayi is already organising for governance. The APC family in Ogun Central had earlier been formally presented with Yayi as the consensus candidate by Governor Dapo Abiodun, and the Abeokuta office now gives that consensus a physical address.

Leadership, however, is best appreciated by contrast. While Senator Yayi was receiving prayers and counsel across Ogun East and Central, the visit of PDP’s Ladi Adebutu to the Yewa Traditional Council was met with palpable coldness and public rebuke from monarchs. Where Yayi came with deference, Adebutu came with entitlement. Where Yayi left with blessings, Adebutu left with backlash. That contrast is instructive. Traditional rulers occupy a unique place in Yoruba political culture. Their blessing is neither decorative nor easily procured, and a candidate’s standing with the palace is read by many voters as a proxy for legitimacy and respect for custom. While Yayi’s week was defined by monarchs physically flanking him at a project site, a palace endorsement and a headquarters commissioning graced by royal fathers from multiple domains, the same week produced a starkly different account for his closest challenger. The message from our Obas is simple: Ogun State will not be inherited by arrogance. It will be entrusted to competence and character.

Three outings in one week. One restored hope for light in Ogun Waterside, one paid homage to the thrones in Ijebu-Ode, and one planted the flag of the future in Abeokuta. That is a hat-trick. That is statesmanship. That is why the political temperature in Ogun today tilts heavily in favour of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola. The train for 2027 has not just left the station; it is gathering momentum, powered by performance, respect for tradition and strategic presence. Yayi is not just changing the face of politicking; he is defining it.