By Segun Olatunji
Let us all take a deep, collective breath and praise the sudden, miraculous birth of civic righteousness in Ogun State. In a development that absolutely nobody saw coming, some concerned citizens—who just happen to spend their free time singing the praises of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, Oladipupo Adebutu—have discovered a profound, burning love for transparent campaign financing.
Yes, you guessed right. A formal petition has landed on the busy desks of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The target? None other than the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, widely and affectionately known to friends, foes, and car dealers as Yayi.
The crime? Yayi’s campaign somehow managed to secure a jaw-dropping donation of 119 vehicles. One hundred and nineteen! That is not a campaign convoy; that is a moderately sized logistics corporation or a very successful Uber franchise. Naturally, our civic-minded petitioners are utterly distraught. They are practically begging the EFCC and INEC to swoop in, pull over the entire fleet and demand to see the receipts, ownership papers and valuations of every single bumper, tire and cup holder.
Of course, the most delightful part of this entire saga is the petitioners’ solemn, hand-on-heart declaration that this move is entirely non-political. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that their preferred candidate is facing a brutal electoral showdown against Yayi. Heavens, no! This is about the sanctity of the Electoral Act 2026 and the strict majesty of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
It is truly touching to see such devotion to statutory compliance. One can almost picture the petitioners, late at night, weeping and even wailing, shedding tears of pure patriotism over copies of the Electoral Act, deeply traumatised by the thought of a campaign exceeding its fiscal speed limits. To suggest there is an ulterior political motive here is to insult the very concept of disinterested public service. It is a completely wild coincidence that the petition surfaced just as the political temperature in Ogun State is reaching a rolling boil. It is simply their master’s voice.
*The Audacity of the Fleet*
Let us look at the core of the grievance. The petitioners want Yayi hauled into the EFCC interrogation room to explain exactly who bought these cars. They want a full, unedited roll call of every donor, complete with their BVNs, residential addresses and perhaps their blood types for good measure.
Because, as we all know, in the history of Nigerian politics, no group of enthusiastic market women, eager diaspora associations, or completely anonymous “friends of the candidate” has ever pooled money together to buy vehicles for a campaign. It is completely unprecedented! A politician receiving vehicles from not unlisted well-wishers? Stop the presses!
The sheer shock and horror radiating from the Adebutu camp over these 119 vehicles is almost theatrical. It makes you wonder what the preferred alternative is. Should Yayi’s campaign team traverse the vast terrains of Ogun State on foot? Should they ride bicycles, horses, donkeys, camels and what have you, to their rallies to ensure they stay safely within the petitioners’ preferred aesthetic of humble poverty?
A Shift in the Strategy Manual
For months, the opposition’s favourite stick to beat Yayi with was the great, never-ending “atohunrinwa” debate. We were treated to endless monologues, press conferences and even lawsuits questioning his ancestral roots, trying to determine whether he belongs to Lagos, Ekiti or Ogun. But apparently, the “atohunrinwa” narrative wasn’t yielding enough mileage.
So, like any adaptive political machinery, the strategy has shifted from geography to garage inventory. If you cannot stop him at the “indigeneship council,” try to stop him at the vehicle inspection office.
It is also highly inconvenient for the narrative that while the opposition counts car doors, the local population is counting actual concrete infrastructure. As the current representative for Ogun West and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Yayi has built a track record of constituency interventions that are hard to completely ignore. In Ogun West, his scorecard boasts over 140 road construction projects, including the massive 103km Ilara–Ilashe Road that connects 26 distinct communities, alongside critical health milestones like the brand-new Primary Health Centre in Ipake.
Worse still for the Ogun APC governorship flagbearer’s detractors, his structural interventions haven’t stayed confined to his home district. In Ogun East, Yayi stepped outside his immediate borders to finance a massive re-electrification initiative, restoring power grids for more than 50 communities across the Ogun Waterside Local Government Area that had faced over a decade of blackouts. Meanwhile, in Ogun Central, his sweeping educational, business grants and agricultural inputs—like the distributed tractors and the Oloja Yayi Market Support Fund that injected ₦750 million to 10,000 market traders statewide—have left project footprints right on the opposition’s doorsteps.
The petition practically begs the EFCC and INEC to act as a high-powered auditor for campaign gifts. One can only imagine the anti-graft agency setting aside its ongoing investigations into trillions of missing public funds to count the doors and inspect the leather seats of 119 campaign buses and even INEC abandoning preparations for the 2027 general elections and joining the anti-graft agency in this pedestrian enterprise.
The Road Ahead
Ultimately, this petition is a masterclass in the fine art of Nigerian political pettiness. It is beautiful, dramatic and entirely transparent. By wrapping a standard political ambush in the noble robes of financial transparency and anti-money laundering legislation, the petitioners deserve an award for creative writing.
Whether the EFCC and INEC will swallow the bait and transform into Yayi’s personal car-registry clerk remains to be seen. But one thing is absolutely certain: for the opposition, the race for the Oke Mosan Governor’s Office is no longer just about manifestos, development plans or zoning formulas. It is now officially a matter of horsepower, dealership invoices and who has the shiniest fleet to drive their political ambition home. Buckle up, Ogun State—it promises to be a very bumpy, highly litigious ride.
. Olatunji, a Journalist, Political/Crisis Communication Strategist, writes from Ilaro, Ogun State
