By Tayo Oyekanmi
It was Mario Cuomo, the former New York Governor, who was credited with saying that politicians campaign in prose but govern in poetry. Cuomo knew what he was saying, having experienced both sides of politics.
During campaigns, we are familiar with such sound bites as:
“We will build roads.”
“We will fix schools.”
“We will create jobs.”
More often than not, “we will do this, we will do that” are not phrases alien to voters, especially during campaign season. They come in prose and as very direct promises.
Transition to when the government is in place, poetry takes charge unconsciously. The sentences become vague and difficult to pin down. Explanations take centre stage. Then you begin to hear sentences like, “We are navigating turbulent waters. We are laying a solid foundation for development!”
That has been the nature of most politicians and office holders. But one man is daring to be different. In Ogun State, the governorship election will be a straight fight between the man in question—Sen. Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (YAYI), the candidate of the APC, and Hon. Ladi Adebutu of the PDP. All other candidates and parties are bystanders. Even though the straight contest between Candidate YAYI and Ladi will be a mismatch.
The only governorship candidate who will run on his record of performance in office today in Ogun State is Sen. YAYI. Since 2023, when YAYI mounted the saddle as Senator representing Ogun West, his performance in office has been nothing short of phenomenal. He has surpassed all expectations. Every nook and cranny of Ogun State is already feeling his impact. While I do not want to bore anyone with a cursory look at what he has done in the last three years across Ogun State, the record is out there. However, I cannot help but reference what Sen. YAYI has been up to in the last six days, to be precise.
On Sunday, July 26, 2026, Sen. YAYI awarded scholarships and bursaries to 5,312 students across the state. The event took place in Abeokuta, with beneficiaries going home with ₦200,000, ₦150,000, and ₦100,000, depending on their categories.
On Tuesday, July 28, Sen. YAYI was in Ilaro (Ogun West), where the second edition of the Farmers’ Empowerment Programme took place. Over 2,557 farmers, organised into more than 100 clusters, benefited. These farmers were trained and retrained in their areas of specialisation. At the programme, 10 brand-new tractors with full attachments were distributed. About 250 haulage tricycles and many farm implements were also distributed, including a variety of seeds. ₦100,000 cash was also given to each of the 2,557 beneficiaries to support their farming activities, despite their going home with all the necessary equipment. In the maiden edition of the programme last year, about 5,910 farmers benefited. I am sure we are following the trajectory.
On Wednesday, July 29, Sen. YAYI was in Abeokuta again, this time for the 5th edition of the Market Traders’ Empowerment Programme for Ogun Central, aimed at strengthening small business owners, having recognised their importance in the informal sector. At the occasion, 3,000 traders were supported with ₦75,000 grants. At the last edition of this initiative, 5,000 traders benefited.
On Thursday, July 30, Sen. YAYI increased the tempo. He was at the Awujale Pavilion, where the Ogun East leg of the 5th edition of the Market Traders’ Empowerment Programme was held, with another 3,000 market traders receiving ₦75,000 cash grants.
On Friday, July 31, Sen. YAYI returned to Ilaro for the Ogun West leg of the Market Traders’ Empowerment Programme. This time, 4,000 traders also benefited.
Since 2023, the direct beneficiaries of the various interventions of Sen. YAYI—be it Market Traders’ Empowerment, Farmers’ Empowerment, Artisans’ Empowerment, Students’ Empowerment, Teachers’ Empowerment, Skills Acquisition Empowerment, etc.—will most definitely be in the neighbourhood of 300,000 people, to be modest. I am not talking about associated beneficiaries but direct beneficiaries. If we are to look at associated and contagious beneficiaries, then we will be looking at more than one million impactful interventions by one man.
Sen. YAYI has therefore demonstrated that he can represent and govern in prose even as he campaigns in like manner. Can his opponent come out with his full chest to say the same? Obviously not. Thus, while YAYI will be campaigning based on substance and impact, Ladi Adebutu will most definitely run his campaign on rhetoric. Therefore, what Hon. Ladi Adebutu will obviously be doing in this governorship campaign is: “I will, I will, I will.” Nothing more. Unlike YAYI, who has done in excess of whatever Ladi will be promising, Sen. YAYI has been solving multidimensional challenges, be they food security, economic security, or industrial security, with agriculture sitting at the intersection.
Obviously, I will be the last person to say Hon. Ladi Adebutu has not done anything since his involvement in public service, but can we put a number to that? I am sure Hon. Ladi Adebutu himself will scratch his head to come up with any realistic answer. Sen. YAYI’s impact has been very organic and visible to all. Yes, Hon. Ladi Adebutu used to donate transformers to some parts of the state, but the sad thing about that intervention was that many remained unenergised till today. To be clear, the highest level of Ladi Adebutu’s impact on the lives of the people has been dwarfed by a single sectoral intervention of Sen. YAYI. That is the reality today. No sentiment or put-down. Yes, people can say Sen. YAYI has access to opportunity, but what about the capacity to utilise that opportunity? Is it a walk in the park to utilise the said opportunity? No. It takes competence, capacity, and intentionality.
In any case, what is Hon. Ladi Adebutu bringing to the table for the ever-sophisticated and reasonable people of Ogun State—the state with so many firsts in Nigeria—to ignore the abnormalities and aberrations embedded in his unguarded aspiration by asking the people to cast their lot with him for an Iperu man to succeed another Iperu man? Nothing of substance and impact beyond esoteric rhetoric and basking in the euphoria of family hegemony, which is not contagious by any standard to the people of Ogun State. Hon. Ladi Adebutu’s ambition is therefore repulsive, repugnant, and very antithetical to fairness, equity, and common sense. He has his head already in the clouds, and the people of Ogun State will decide his fate officially on February 6, 2027. However, Hon. Ladi Adebutu needs to help himself with the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Seeking power by all means is not a sign of virtue but of depravity and moral bankruptcy.”
Unlike Sen. YAYI, who is lifting people beyond their imagination, spreading joy, creating opportunities, creating jobs, saving families from hardship, shaping the future, and securing the uncertain future of students.
Yes, the right to associate and choose is personal. But anyone against Sen. YAYI in the governorship election is definitely not acting out of concern for the development of Ogun State, but for something much more. However, Ogun State’s future will not be decided based on the personal interests of a few people but by the majority of Ogun people, whose interests Sen. YAYI has been championing and will be willing to protect even more as Governor. Already, the people of Ogun State have seen who can guarantee them a better future.
YAYI is the man.
