Prince Dapo Adeyeye is the National President of the political group called South West Agenda (SWAGA) 2023. He and his team, have done a good job of it and in the next few weeks, he is going to intensify work on his governorship ambition.
He is running for Ekiti governorship. He is one of the APC gubernatorial aspirants to watch. He has a lot going for him. He is one of the front liners in the state. He has as strong political machinery a ground which will assure him good votes. He is a strategic politician who understands the game inside out. He is also a grassroots mobiliser.Many
don't know he has a strong activist background. He was a pro-democracy activist. He was a member of
the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). He was Director of Publicity, Falae
for President Campaign Organisation (1990-1992), Adviser on Policy and Press
Matters, M.K.O. Abiola for President Campaign Organisation (1993), Spokesperson
for the Alliance for Democracy (AD), and a member of the South-West Delegation
to the Nigerian leaders of Thought Conference, Abuja. Prince Adeyeye, was the
youngest of the 21 eminent leaders who represented the South-Western zone of
Nigeria at the Conference (2001) He was also the National Publicity Secretary
of the Pan Yoruba Socio-political group, Afenifere between 2001-2004 as well as
the spokesperson of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) between 2004-2006.
He
was a member of the ODU (Odua Development Union) which was established for the
overall socio-political and economic development of the South-West.
In
2006, he was an Ekiti State governorship aspirant under Alliance for Democracy
(AD), which later metamorphosed into the Action Congress of Nigeria, and was
runner up to Governor Kayode Fayemi in the controversial primary elections that
led to the defection of 13 of the total 16 aspirants from the Action Congress
of Nigeria to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Prince Adeyeye was among
those who defected.
After
the 2007 election, he was nominated for a position as a Minister of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria under the President Umaru Musa Yaradua administration, but
his past roles as spokesperson for the opposition party and the National
Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere group worked against his final appointment
as Minister.
He
was subsequently appointed Executive Chairman of Ekiti State Universal Basic
Education Board (SUBEB) under the administration of Governor Segun Oni, where
he recorded several achievements and won the Universal Basic Education
Commission (UBEC) Award as the best chairman in the South-West of Nigeria in
2008. The award came along with a cash prize of Seventy Million Naira. He again
won the same award as the best Chairman of SUBEB in the South West in 2009. The
funds derived from the awards were used to provide more infrastructure for
schools across Ekiti State. That same year, Prince Adedayo Adeyeye was adjudged
The Most innovative SUBEB Chairman in Nigeria by the Presidential Committee on
Schools’ debate. He was the only SUBEB Chairman in the country selected by the
World Bank to attend the Conference on Strategies for Education Reform,
sponsored by the World Bank in Washington, the United States in March 2010. His
administration successfully organised the training of over 12,000 teachers
within Ekiti State on contemporary teaching methods. As Chairman of Ekiti
SUBEB, Adeyeye changed the face of public school buildings in the State with
the introduction of storey buildings and tiled floors and provision of school
furniture. During his tenure as SUBEB Chairman, pupils stopped carrying
furniture to school from their homes. The quality of the furnishings was
regarded as the best in the country.
Once
again, in 2014, Prince Adeyeye was nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan as
a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This time, his nomination was
approved by the Senate and he was sworn in by President Goodluck Jonathan on 9
July of that year as Minister of State for Works. He served as Minister till
the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on 29 May 2015.
Prince
Adeyeye was appointed by the Ekiti State Government as Pro-Chancellor of the
Ekiti State University in June 2015 and he is the current Chairman of the
University’s Governing Council.
In
2018, he declared interest in the race for Ekiti Governorship seat and ran for
the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but controversially lost to
Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, the anointed candidate of the then sitting Governor -
Peter Ayodele Fayose. This made him and his supporters defect to the All
Progressive Congress (APC), a move that eventually led to the APC winning the
election. Sen Adedayo Adeyeye is the Chairman of Southwest Agenda’23 (SWAGA)
Following
the inauguration of the National Caretaker Committee of the People’s Democratic
Party on 7 June 2016, Prince Adeyeye was nominated as the representative of the
South-Western Region of Nigeria. He was subsequently appointed as the National
Publicity Secretary of the party under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Makarfi
on 9 June 2016 and currently serves the party in that capacity. Adeyeye stopped
acting in that capacity after the administration of the party’s executive committee
headed by Prince Uche Secondus. He later contested the 8 May 2018 Governorship
Primaries of his party in Ekiti State, but he lost to the anointed candidate
and the Incumbent Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola Eleka.
Sen
Adedayo Adeyeye was an aspirant for the Ekiti State 2018 gubernatorial
elections under the platform of the PDP whose support cut across party lines.
He has often been described as a unifying factor for the PDP within the state.
In
an interview with the Leadership Newspaper, Adeyeye highlighted his first 11
priorities which pointed at revolutions in Agriculture, education, employment
figures, health and social welfare amongst others. Adeyeye declared for Senate
on Thursday 6 September 2018 at Ise Ekiti during the Senatorial meeting of the
party held in his home and attended by party’s bigwigs and aspirants from the
zone.
Prince
Adedayo Adeyeye defeated Senator Biodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party in
Ekiti South Senatorial District in the National Assembly election conducted on
Saturday, 23 February 2019. The Returning Officer for Ekiti South Senatorial
District, Professor Laide Lawal, returned Prince Adeyeye, elected having scored
77,621 votes to defeat his closest rival, Olujimi, who polled 53,741 votes.
During the 2019 election tribunal, his closest rival, Olujimi was declared the winner after the result was recalculated under controversial circumstances.
Prince
Clement Adedayo Adeyeye was born on 4 April 1957 at Ikere-Ekiti, to the royal
family of Oba David Opeyemi Adeyeye, Agunsoye II, the Arinjale of Ise Ekiti
(who reigned between 1932 and 1976), and Olori Mary Ojulege Adeyeye, a princess
of Are, Ikere-Ekiti. His grandfather was Oba Aweloye I, Arinjale of Ise Ekiti
(1887-1919)
Between
1964 and 1968, Clement Adedayo attended St. John’s Primary School, Are,
Ikere-Ekiti for his primary education. He later proceeded to Annunciation
school, Ikere-Ekiti (1969-1973), before attending the famous Christ’s School
Ado Ekiti (1973-1975). Adeyeye holds a bachelor’s degree in political science
from the University of Ibadan (1978) and a master’s degree in political science
(international relations) from the University of Lagos (1981). He also obtained
a law degree from the University of Lagos in 1986 and was called to the
Nigerian Bar in 1987.
Senator
Adeyeye work experience has spanned 3 major professional fields - Teaching,
Journalism and Legal practice. Prince Adeyeye was a teacher at Isuikwuato High
School, Isuikwuato, Imo State during his National Youth Service (1978-1979) and
proceeded to teach at Mary Immaculate Grammar School, Ado-Ekiti (1980). Adeyeye
made the switch to Journalism in 1981 and was Editor II at the Federal Radio
Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ikoyi, between 1981 and 1982. He had a brief
stint at Rank Xerox Limited in 1983 where he was a Senior Sales Executive.
Between 1983 and 1987, he held various editorial positions at The Punch
newspapers. During his active years in legal practice, Prince Adeyeye was the Principal
Partner at the law firm of Dayo Adeyeye & Co. between 1990 and 2000.
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