Two months to his 50th birthday, precisely on June 11, 2019, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola aka Yayi, was called on by Mr. Sanni Omolori, the Clerk of the National Assembly, to second the nomination of Senator Ahmad Lawan for the post of President of the Senate and chairman of the National Assembly as moved by Senator Yahaya Abdulahi. The historic nature of that assignment was not lost on knowledgeable observers of the parliament.
Except there is an impeachment or demise, the election of the President of the Senate is done once in every four years and those who nominated and seconded the nomination are chosen to perform this function strictly on some criteria that have to do with legislative experience among other important considerations. The mover of the motion, Senator Abdullahi now Senate Leader was the chairman of Senator Lawan for President Group.
Mandatorily at the end of the election, these two ‘sponsors/agents’ of the nomination would lead the newly elected president to his seat and took what is usually a historic picture with the President of the Senate and the Clerk of the National Assembly and Clerk of the Senate. And so it was that Senator Adeola was thrust into national parliamentary history from his beginning as a legislator for 16 unbroken years now.
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The Nigerian Senate is populated by many former state governors, retired military generals, professors and other influential Nigerians whose average age hover around 65. Thus, it takes more than knowing how to wash your hands to dine with these elders and statesmen. It takes loyalty, hard work and cognate legislative experience to be singled out to perform a national duty. Adeola apparently knows his onions in legislative business to have been so chosen.
In the 8th Senate, Adeola sponsored 15 bills which placed him among the first 10 in terms of bills sponsorship. 12 of these bills were on constitutional amendment and two of them were passed by the Senate.
In oversight activities of the 8th Senate, Adeola moved three motions that became Senate resolutions which led to full blown investigations that have so far exposed massive shortchanging of Nigerians. He sponsored the motion to investigate non-remittances and misuse of revenue generated by MDAs; the motion to investigate the local content and cost variation elements of the $16 billion Total Egina Offshore Oil Project and the motion to investigate the near bankruptcy of Etisalat. These motions became Senate resolutions. He also co-sponsored 11 other motions that were passed by the Senate.
In the three months of the current Senate, Adeola has sponsored a motion on Ijegun (Lagos) pipeline explosion. The motion has led to a Senate probe of the incident.
It is however, in the area of empowerment that Adeola has touched the lives of his constituents by providing them with income-generating equipment. Details of such are not for this write-up because he represents the largest senatorial district in Nigeria. However, what he has done includes the provision of such equipment as sewing, block molding, welding, vulcanizing and grinding machines; vehicles, tricycles and motorcycles among others. Other areas he touched the lives of constituents include provision of 10 units of 500KVA electricity transformers to 10 local government areas. He has also provided educational empowerment in the form of scholarships for tertiary education students; payment of JAMB fees and skill and entrepreneurship training and ICT Centres for four schools. After his election to the 9th Senate, Adeola in conjunction with SMEDAN has trained over 4,000 women and youths in various skills and entrepreneur development.
Born on August 10, 1969 at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos State to family of Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (nee Akinola), Yayi began his education at the State Primary School, Alimosho in Lagos State. After his primary education, he proceeded to Community Grammar School, Akowonjo, Lagos for his secondary education. His quest for educational advancement took him to the prestigious Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo, now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic where he bagged the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting. Adeola became a Chartered Accountant at a relatively young age. He is a Fellow 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’s working experience in both private and public sector finance started in The Guardian Newspapers Limited, where he put in almost 12 years of accounting service and rose to the position of Accountant. He resigned from The Guardian and joined Olatunji Omoyeni & Co, where he led its audit team for several years and was later promoted to the position of a Senior Auditor. He thereafter established his own firm, Sootem Nigeria Limited.
In all his years as a legislator, Adeola has set the standard for effective representation that saw his repeated re-election. He is noted for his personal and constituency projects. The people of Alimosho and indeed Lagos West 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 programmes that are the hallmark of Yayi’s representation include educational empowerment and support in the form of building of classrooms with ancillary facilities; annual purchase of GCE forms and payment for tutorials for indigent students as well as ICT training at NIIT for hundreds of youths in his constituency.
As a member of the House of Representatives, he was selected as the chairman of the only constitutional committee of the House, the Public Accounts Committee. In fulfillment of his core functions as a legislator, Adeola sponsored and pushed through the passage of a bill that repealed the Colonial Audit Act of 1956 and re-enacted the Audit Act of 2014. In the 9th Senate, he has been appointed as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.
Adeola, a Christian and a believer in religious freedom for all faiths, is happily married to Mrs. Temitope Adeola and the union is blessed with children. At the golden age, Adeola is setting a worthy record of an experienced legislator per excellence and looks set for more service to the people and nation.
Kayode Odunaro sent this piece through kayodunaro@hotmail.com
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