Ogun West Professionals’ Sensitisation Tour: Breaking The Jinx, Consolidating 2027 Game For Yayi
By
Segun Olatunji
A fresh, energetic wind of change is currently sweeping through the Ogun West Senatorial District. If you’ve traversed the Yewa and Awori landscapes in recent times, you probably must have experienced its feelings. Conversations at local markets, youth gatherings and community town halls are no longer about the “possibilities” of the zone’s political potential. Rather, they’re focused completely on a future that is fast unfolding and being championed by a rainbow coalition, the Ogun West Professionals for Yayi (OGWPY), with their current sensitisation drive selling the All Progressives Congress’ governorship candidate for Ogun State in the 2027 general elections, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly called Yayi, across the five local government areas of the senatorial district.
Although OGWPY’s job is already cut out for them and made easier because of the highly functional brand they’re marketing, they are of the strong opinion that nothing must be left to chance; hence, their decision to hit the roads for the sensitisation campaign tour. OGWPY is pulling its weight behind Senator Adeola Yayi because his political model blends technocratic precision with grassroots populist connection. It’s an incontestable fact that Senator Adeola Yayi, as the Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Appropriations, has brought an unprecedented high level of financial savvy, lifelines and resource attraction to Ogun West, as well as the two other senatorial districts of Ogun State.
In the past 50 years, the political narrative around Ogun West had sounded like a broken record, featuring unending conversations about marginalisation and unfulfilled potential. This new era of total cohesion, as exemplified by OGWPY, sharply contrasts the historical political fragmentation that had hitherto been the bane of politicking in the senatorial district. This young group has made a success of harmonising and rallying former rival individuals and political groups behind Senator Yayi’s consensus governorship mandate, ahead of the 2027 election. And now, the game has officially changed. With the firm backing of Governor Dapo Abiodun and other major stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress for Senator Adeola Yayi as the party’s consensus governorship candidate for the 2027 election, and his statewide affirmation in the party’s primary election that followed, the once marginalised senatorial district is no longer just day-dreaming about producing the next governor for Ogun State; it is actively planning for one of its own to occupy the Oke Mosan Governor’s Office come 2027.
It is, therefore, not surprising that in a decisive bid to reshape the political and economic landscape of Ogun West, some professional individuals, last week, came together and embarked on a massive and coordinated grassroots sensitisation campaign tour across the district’s five local government areas.
Taking the lead in this regard is a group that is shifting the entire political landscape, and, that is, talking about the Ogun West Professionals for Yayi (OGWPY). Members are not your typical politicians – they’re a mix of accountants, lawyers, engineers, tech experts, journalists, billionaire businessmen, seasoned educationists, university dons and other reputable professionals who, last Thursday and Friday, left the comfort of their various cozy executive offices to launch a massive, grassroots sensitisation campaign in support of Yayi’s 2027 governorship ambition. Their mission is simple: translating political promises into real, understandable economic blueprints for the ordinary people. In playing this crucial role, OGWPY has proved that it’s not just a political group, but an intellectual coalition driving structural mobilisation and sensitisation in support of Senator Adeola Yayi ahead of the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State. OGWPY is spearheading the fact that for Ogun West to successfully occupy Oke Mosan Governor’s Office in 2027, the campaign must go beyond routine politics and rather focus on technocratic competence, structural preparedness and strong internal unity.
The movement’s initiative follows the historic consensus endorsement of Senator Adeola Yayi by APC stakeholders in Ogun State, heavily backed by Governor Dapo Abiodun and other party bigwigs. The OGWPY campaign signals a paradigm shift in Ogun West’s politics, as corporate technocrats, intellectual heavyweights, billionaire businessmen, high flying politicians and community leaders, who in the recent past would not have agreed or reached any form of consensus on politics, have now come together under one umbrella, transitioning political enthusiasm into structured voter education and development-driven mobilisation and sensitisation.
There are, of course, the heavyweights and think-tanks leading the charge, who have formed a coalition of professionals who recognise Senator Yayi’s unprecedented meteoric track record as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. So, you might be wondering why corporate professionals and top-tier technocrats, as well as billionaire business moguls recently abandoned their suits, ties and well-starched Agbada; donned OGWPY branded T-shirts over jeans trousers and sneakers, took precious time out of their tight schedule, filed into buses and headed in a convoy straight to the grassroots, where they spoke with people and community groups at marketplaces, on the roads, defying the blazing sun and the torrential rain that followed, to “preach the gospel” about the forthcoming general elections and their candidate, Senator Adeola Yayi. This is concrete evidence of the quality of leadership under which the OGWPY operates. In actual fact, the rainbow group of Ogun West professionals, which is now more like a movement, boasts an impressive alignment of intellectual heavyweight powerhouses sacrificing their time, resources and structures for the campaign to have Senator Yayi as the next governor of Ogun State in 2027.
Some of the prominent leaders at the forefront of this unique movement for Yayi’s election include the current Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kunle Salako, who is driving the policy dialogue on healthcare and social equity. There’s also Hon. Olaolu Olabimtan, incumbent Ogun State Commissioner for Budget and Planning. Olabimtan is outlining the movement’s strategic infrastructure roadmap. Hon Jagunmolu Akande Omoniyi, the current Commissioner for Housing, is also a prominent member of this group. Anchoring the political structure of the group is Hon. Kayode Oladele, a member of the Federal Character Commission. Oladele is working alongside a former member of the House of Representatives, who is also now the APC consensus candidate for the Ogun West Senatorial District in 2027, Hon. Jimoh Ojugbele. Handling the administration of the group is irrepressible Ajiroba, Chief Dapo Oke, while veteran journalists and media experts, Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose, the Director General of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) and High Chief Kayode Odunaro, the Baaroyin and Osorun of Isaga Orile, are firmly in charge of the communication front. Mobilising public and educational sectors are key state operators like Hon. Lai Taiwo, Hon. Ogo Akinleye and Apostle Abiodun Sanyaolu, Chairman, Ogun State Teaching Service Commission.
The OGWPY sensitisation team took off from Abeokuta, the state capital, on Thursday, June 18, heading straight to Sango, Ota, Atan, Lusada, Igbesa, Agbara and Ado-Odo. At Ota and Lusada markets in Ado Odo Ota LGA, the team’s focus was sensitisation of voters against selling their voters’ cards. The team also stormed Atan to deliver similar messages. On Friday, the sensitisation tour took the team to Oba TT Dada Market in Ota and other communities, where it delivered the same message alerting the people to the antics of politicians whose main target is to purchase their voters’ cards for paltry amounts of money.
The essence of the OGWPY two-day voter sensitisation and mobilisation campaign tour was to drive Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) collection, increase voter registration and enhance political consolidation for Senator Yayi. The tour covered major communities in Ipokia, Yewa South, Yewa North and Ado/Ota local government areas. It is delightful to note that the exercise, which combined civic education with targeted political messaging, recorded a strong grassroots’ reception.
During the two-day sensitisation tour, the OGWPY team hit every nook and cranny of the five local government areas of Ogun West to inform and enlighten the people at the grassroots about everything at stake in their active participation in the 2027 elections, especially regarding Yayi’s governorship ambition. Rather than selling vague ideas like the usual politicians with the gift of the garb, OGWPY members pointed to Senator Yayi’s visible track record of the provision of infrastructure, mega-empowerment and mega-vocational training programmes that distribute to the women and youths the tools, equipment and financial grants needed to start their own businesses. The team also provided the concrete evidence of new roads, construction and rehabilitation of schools equipped with modern learning facilities, state-of-the-art ICT centres, digital libraries and modern primary health centres dotting the various communities in Ogun West.
The OGWPY team further presented to the people the borderland blueprint and strategic plans by Senator Yayi to transform Ogun West’s unique geographic position to a buzzing economic and industrial hub. The OGWPY sensitisation messages dwelt on the visible physical footprints Senator Yayi has already made across communities in Ogun West.
They also educated the grassroots’ people on the importance of voter registration and PVC ownership, while discouraging the sale and misuse of voters’ cards. They didn’t stop at that, as the team also provided information to the people on INEC’s registration schedule and PVC collection points.
The OGWPY team further encouraged all eligible citizens to actively participate in the electoral process as a civic duty and with the ultimate objective of ensuring that the Ogun West electorate delivers all their votes to the APC flagbearer, Senator Adeola Yayi during the 2027 governorship election in the state.
Also, during the sensitisation tour, which was carried out in line with INEC guidelines, OGWPY members directly engaged members of the various communities at markets, bus-stops and houses. They also paid courtesy visits to community leaders.
One unique thing about the OGWPY two-day sensitisation campaign tour was the use of local dialects and languages by members of the team, where necessary, to ensure the messages were effectively delivered and properly understood. A good instance was the resort to Egun language in communities where the speakers are dominant in Ipokia Local Government Area.
Speaking on why the professionals abandoned their offices and stormed the streets in Ogun West for two days, OGWPY’s official spokesperson, Dr. Morakinyo Oloyede, enthused, “This is a strategic consolidation to correct a long-standing political imbalance with the best administrative hands available.”
However, the success recorded by the OGWPY team during the two-day sensitisation campaign tour can be aptly anchored on the fact that they made the exercise look less like a political rally and more like a civic community mobilisation and sensitisation project. Now, local traders are heard at market squares talking about the micro-grants that have kept their businesses afloat, while youths and student leaders eagerly express enthusiasm about the newly launched Yayi Connect Team and Yayi Progressive Movement (YPM) initiatives, bringing closer home the belief that every voter understands the long-term economic benefits of the Yayi agenda. At a recent OGWPY event in Ilaro, a young resident enthused, “We are not just voting for a name. We’re investing in a proven manager of resources. Yayi represents a prepared future.”
But while the OGWPY is proudly driving this new wind of change blowing gently from Ogun West, their message is founded on unity. Rather than division, it is being presented as a vision for the entire state. OGWPY is also succeeding in harmonising different local groups, artisans and youth bodies under the “Yayi 2027 Project.” The group’s emphasis is that Yayi’s vision is a pan-Ogun blueprint, which values and guarantees equity, fairness and mutual progress for Ogun Central and Ogun East senatorial districts, too, just as much as its homestead. Infact, Ogun West’s new-found ability to speak with one strong, sophisticated voice is already winning respect for the Yewa-Awori people across the two other senatorial districts of the state.
The Ogun West Professionals’ ongoing campaign for Senator Yayi’s election in 2027 is a clear reminder that real progress occurs when competence collides with grassroots energy. Therefore, all hands must be on the deck in Ogun West to ensure active engagement in mobilisation and sensitisation process, securing of voters’ documentation and partnership to ensure this historic movement delivers sustainable governance in the entire Ogun State.
It is an incontrovertible fact that Ogun West’s half a century jinx isn’t just being broken, it’s being replaced by a new standard of governance. With the OGWPY’s two-day sensitisation campaign tour, the entire people of Ogun West got the group’s messages crystal clear: grab your voters’ cards, fully partake in the discourse and the entire political process and let’s build the future together for a better Ogun State, for the sake of posterity. In a nutshell, the OGWPY sensitisation drive qualifies for a blueprint for modern intellectual political mobilisation in Nigeria.
.Olatunji, a Journalist, Political and Crisis Communication Strategist, writes from Ilaro, Ogun State
