Nigerian politicians are not famous for being loyal to their political parties. They open up transfer windows all the time and jump from one party to another to serve their own interests. A presidential candidate we know has switched parties five times. Even snakes are more loyal than that.
But if you think a Nigerian politician’s restlessness is restricted to serving breakfast to political parties, we have some news for you.
Yayi is on the move
Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, more commonly known as Yayi, has been winning elections as a lawmaker since 2003. He represented Alimosho State Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2003 to 2011. From there, he stepped up to the National Assembly to represent Alimosho federal constituency in the House of Representatives.
Not a man to stay in one place, Yayi contested for the Senate and won in 2015 to become the representative of Lagos West senatorial district. He won the seat again in 2019. He’s been busy.
After 19 years of using Lagos as his base of operations, Yayi’s eyes are straying and he’s now bent on contesting the 2023 elections to become the representative of Ogun West senatorial district.
Wait, can he do that?
Yayi was born and raised in Lagos State, but Ogun is his state of origin, and he’s just remembering that now. A lot of dust has been raised over his switch, and the prevailing question has been, “Can he even do that?”
The short answer is yes. There’s simply nothing in Nigeria’s laws that stops him from making that sort of move.
Why is Yayi moving?
Even though Yayi is only just making his move official, it’s been brewing for a long time. He made moves to contest for the Ogun State governor’s seat in 2019 but never completed it.
It stands to reason that returning to his ancestral state in 2023 is a preamble to get him settled enough to run for the governor’s seat in 2027. By then, the current state governor, Dapo Abiodun, would have wrapped up his second term in office, if he’s re-elected in 2023. Yayi and Abiodun are both members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Is this kind of move rare?
We’ve discovered that Yayi isn’t the first Nigerian politician to jump from constituency to constituency. We found some other examples.
Binta Garba
Binta Garba was born and raised in Kaduna State. She represented Kaduna South federal constituency in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2007. She then hopped to her native Adamawa State where she represented Madagali/Michika federal constituency between 2007 and 2011.
Like Yayi, she also stepped up to serve in the Senate. She represented Adamawa North senatorial district for one term between 2015 and 2019. She lost her re-election bid to this guy:
Babajide Omoworare
Babajide Omoworare represented the Ifako-Ijaiye constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly between 1999 and 2007. He then found himself contesting a senatorial election in Osun State in 2007 but didn’t win until 2011 when he was elected as the senator representing Osun East senatorial district. He was re-elected in 2015 and also tried to run for the Osun governor’s seat in 2018.
Mudasiru Hussein
Mudasiru Hussein is yet another Lagos lawmaker who made a transfer window jump to his native state in the middle of his political career. He represented Oshodi-Isolo federal constituency in the House of Representatives for three terms between 1999 and 2007. Like Omoworare, Hussein jumped into Osun politics in 2007 but lost the senatorial election. He later won in 2011, though, and represented Osun West senatorial district for four years.
Kolapo Osunsanya
Kolapo Osunsanya is the current representative of Ijebu Central federal constituency in the House of Representatives since he was elected in 2019. But before that, he represented Eti-Osa Constituency II at the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2003 to 2011.
Clement Awoyelu
We know you were thinking it — and you’re correct — Clement Awoyelu’s political career also started in Lagos State.
Awoyelu was a member of the state’s House of Assembly before returning to Ekiti to be elected the senator representing Ekiti Central in 2003.
There are two things we’ve just learned — Yayi is in good company of constituency defectors and someone needs to close that Lagos portal that keeps producing them.
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