The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi), has urged journalists in the state to hold him accountable to his campaign promises if elected governor in the 2027 election.
Adeola made the call on Friday when he interacted with members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council, at the Union’s secretariat in Abeokuta.
The APC candidate said the progress of Ogun State should be regarded as a collective responsibility, stressing that his manifesto should serve as a benchmark for assessing his administration if elected.
He said: ‘I do not come to you asking you to believe me. I come asking you to hold me to this manifesto, line by line, project by project, from the commuter waiting for a bus in Sango-Ota, to the young coder we train in Abeokuta, to the fisherman on Tongeji Island watching his community finally get its road and its clinic.
‘A manifesto that stays on paper is a betrayal of the people who trusted it. This covenant will be built into a clear implementation plan with measurable targets, every agency held to performance agreements tied to these commitments, and honest, public reporting on what is working and what is not. This is how a manifesto stops being a document and becomes a government.’
Adeola said his administration, if given the mandate, would focus on initiatives capable of improving the lives of residents across different parts of the state.
He urged journalists to play their watchdog role by monitoring government programmes and reporting objectively on their implementation.
‘Itesiwaju Ipinle Ogun Lo Je Wa Logun. The progress of Ogun State is our duty and our calling. Let us build, together, the Ogun of our dreams: a state where governance truly works for everyone,’ he added.
Senator Adeola assured the members of the pen profession that his administration, if elected into office, would fully comply with the Freedom of Information Act, and promised to treat the Ogun NUJ as a partner in governance in moving the state forward.
He further told the journalists that his administration, when elected, would look into their welfare and safety, saying, ‘Government that fears scrutiny has already told you what it intends to hide, and that will not be this administration.’
While commending the present administration for growing internally generated revenue at a compound annual rate of 33 per cent between 2021 and 2024, Adeola said the task before his administration, if elected, was to push the momentum further.
‘We will deploy a Single Window Revenue Collection System integrating PAYE and every other tax stream, fee and levy across government, targeting a 40 per cent uplift in IGR and a three-to-fivefold increase in land revenue by 2031. This is not a new tax on our people. It is collecting, transparently and efficiently, what our state is already owed,’ he added.
On local government autonomy, Senator Adeola maintained that local government allocations would be paid directly into the accounts of the LGs without state-level intervention or diversion.
Adeola further added: ‘Government that cannot be felt where people live is not government at all. Ogun State’s 7.4 million people are spread across 16,432 square kilometres, and for too many, the distance to their local government is a half-day journey, not a short commute.
‘Following the 2024 Supreme Court ruling, allocations will flow directly to our twenty Local Government Areas, without state-level interception or diversion, because roads, health centres and markets are all delivered more effectively when the government closest to the people controls its own resources. Itesiwaju Ipinle Ogun must be felt at the local government level, and it begins on day one.’
Highlights of the interaction with the journalists were the commitment of N50 million to the building of a new secretariat for the NUJ and also the donation of a brand new bus to the union.