Bisi Kolawole is the PDP Governorship aspirant in Ekiti State in the upcoming June 18 2022 elections and he hails from Efon Alaaye in the Ekiti Central Senatorial District.
The former chairman of the state major opposition party is looking to upset odds by winning the upcoming elections.
Bisi Kolawole Biography and Profile
- Full Name: Otunba Bisi Kolawole
- Date of Birth: 20 September 1956
- Town: Efon Alaaye
- Political Party: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Bisi Kolawole, from Efon Alaaye in the Ekiti Central Senatorial District, was a former House of Assembly member from 2007 to 2011 and Commissioner for Environment under the administration of Fayose between 2015 and 2018. He is one of Ayo Fayose’s closest allies and the former Governor’s anointed candidate in the upcoming Governorship poll in 2022.
Bisi Kolawole early life history and childhood
Hon. Bisi Kolawole was born in Ile-Ife on 20th September, 1956 to an Efon-Alaaye parentage of Chief Ezekiel Kolawole of the Meyolanu Dynasty. His mother, a woman of impeccable beauty, Mrs. Alice Mojirola Kolawole was a native of Modakeke.
As Bisi was growing up at Ile-Ife with the other children, the lot fell on the father to assume the position of High Chief Obaloja, which was the third in the leadership hierarchy of Efon-Alaaye to the Oba. So in 1961, the Kolawole family moved from its town of residence, Ile-Ife to Efon-Alaaye.
Hon. Bisi Kolawole was born into politics. His father, High Chief Ezekiel Kolawole even when resident at Ile-Ife, at a point, became a Councillor from Efon-Alaaye under the then Ekiti West Divisional Council in the 1950s under the Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group( A.G). Besides, Bisi grew up in the Obaloja palace of his father and saw how justice was dispensed whenever cases were brought up for adjudication. He was undoubtedly exposed to the interplay of politics and this must have caught his attention and aroused his interest.
He was actively involved in Students Union politics at the Yaba College of Technology. He has always been an advocate of social justice fighting for the interests of the oppressed.
The defining moment in his incursion into partisan politics came in the return to civil rule in 1999. He was persuaded to move to Efon Alaaye from Lagos. He soon became a Supervisor in the Efon-Alaaye Local Government.
In the year 2007, he was elected under the PDP platform to the Ekiti House of Assembly, and was Chairman of the House Committee on Works. He was a truly distinguished and positively noticeable honorable member of the House of Assembly. He was a significant stabilising force in the Assembly and indeed, the State during the 13 PDP and 13 AC (later ACN) membership of the House.
Hon. Kolawole in 2013 was appointed by the Federal Government as a member of the Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.
In October 2004, Governor Ayodele Fayose appointed him to his Administration as a Special Adviser on Environment and he was later in July 2015 made Commissioner for Environment. He held the position till the end of the tenure of the Fayose administration in October 2018.
He contested the 2019 Federal Elections to represent his constituency in the House of Representatives. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP and is currently the elected Chairman of the PDP in Ekiti State.
Hon. Bisi Kolawole has since 1999 had the unique and uncommon opportunity of working with all Ekiti State Governors namely, His Excellency, Governor Niyi Adebayo, His Excellency, Governor Ayodele Fayose, His Excellency, Governor Segun Oni, and His Excellency, Governor Kayode Fayemi.
Bisi Kolawole PDP Chairmanship and strength
Bisi Kolawole is one of the strong figures in the Ekiti state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is a former member of the State House of Assembly, a commissioner, and was also once the party chairman of the PDP in Ekiti state, leading to a strong belief in his strength within the party.
He was the campaign manager for two strong candidates in the past, Dayo Adeyeye and Olusola Eleka.
Bisi Kolawole has posted impressive figures at polls he contested within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is imperative to note that in the year 2020 when he contested for the seat of Charman of the Ekiti PDP chapter, Kolawole pulled 1,651 of the 1,690 accredited delegates for the exercise.
He would go on to resign from his Chairmanship post in September 2021, joining the race for the Ekiti governorship seat.
On the 26th of January, in a primary election for the Governorship poll, Bisi Kolawole polled 671 votes, while his closest rival, Segun Oni, got a distant 330 votes.
When asked by ‘Yomi Aiyeleso of Tribune News, why he is running for the coveted seat of power, the PDP candidate had this to say;
“I am contesting because we are very familiar with the situation in Ekiti. We know where the shoe pinches because the present APC government in the state has not done enough. People are suffering with no care from the government. The workers and pensioners are being owed as we speak.
The roads and other facilities are bad and dilapidated and our youths are not being encouraged to go into farming and other opportunities. With me in the saddle, all these will be looked into. Let me tell you that the totality of all these things will make an average Ekiti person comfortable and well.
Don’t forget that I am familiar with governance, having been a member of the House of Assembly, and a commissioner in the state. All these are important. The people are not asking government to make them millionaires. They just want to be comfortable. Provide adequate social services to them. The totality of all I have said is one of the reasons that have prompted me to go all out for it and by the grace of God, with experience and support of the people, the situation will improve.”
Bisi Kolawole Education History and Record
In the year 1963, Hon. Bisi Kolawole enrolled at St. John’s Anglican Primary School, Efon-Alaaye where he successfully passed out in 1969 with the Primary Six Leaving Certificate. In 1970, he was admitted to Doherty Memorial Grammar School, Ijero-Ekiti. He passed out with the West African School Certificate in 1974. Thereafter, he went to Ahmadiya, College, Agege, Lagos for his Higher School Certificate (HSC).
In the course of association and interaction with friends on probable future career opportunities, he decided to seek a manifestation of a hitherto latent talent he had for works of art. He opted to go to the famous Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, where he earned the Higher National Diploma(HND) in Graphics Design, Art and Printing in 1981. The thirst for further education and quest for knowledge propelled him to the University of Ado-Ekiti now Ekiti State University where at different times, he earned Post Graduate Diploma and Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He later enrolled for the LLB in the Open University, Abuja, which for now he has put on hold because of time constraints.
Hon. Bisi Kolawole did the mandatory national service at the NYSC Headquarters between 1981 and 1982. He immediately after the NYSC service secured employment with NICHEMTEX Industries, Ikorodu, Lagos in 1982. He voluntarily disengaged in 1992 as a Production Manager to seek further opportunities. He thereafter registered his own private company which engaged essentially in printing and merchandising.
Bisi Kolawole Wife and family
Bisi Kolawole is married to Deaconess Adeola Kehinde Kolawole nee Fajilade from Ikere-Ekiti. The marriage is richly blessed with grown-up children, who are making impacts in Nigeria and abroad.
Bisi Kolawole emergence as Ekiti PDP candidate
It was more or less a landslide victory at the primary election for Otunba Bisi Kolawole, as he made yet another great outing at the election.
Seventeen aspirants – Kolawole, Segun Oni, Senator Biodun Olujimi, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, Mrs Olumide Olubunmi, Kayode Adaramodu, Adewale Aribisala, Yinka Akerele, Ogunsakin Ayodeji, Alhaji Lateef Ajijola, Mrs Arogundade Olutoyin, Princess Adekemi Adewunmi from Efon, Mrs Cecillia Ebiesuwa, Mrs Adewumi Adesoye, Mrs Titilayo Owolabi, Mrs Modupe Asaolu and Mrs Deborah Alo – participated in the election.
Kolawole polled 671 votes to clinch the party’s governorship ticket. Segun Oni emerged the second runner-up with 330 votes. other includes Kemi Adewunmi 1 vote, Deji Ogunsakin 6 votes, Kayode Adaramodu 10 votes, Kolapo Olusola Eleka 93 votes, Wale Aribisala 56 votes
The chairman of the primary election committee and governor of Akwa State, Udom Emmanuel, while kicking off the election said: “It is our expectation that this Ekiti State primary election will be seamless at the time it is completed. We hope to see that the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP elects a widely acceptable flagbearer.”
According to him, the candidate should be able to make the ‘umbrella’ stronger and win the upcoming governorship election in June.
See the full result below;
1. Adekemi Adewumi — 1 Vote
2. Olujinmi —2 Votes
3. Olumide Ojo —- 1 Vote
4. Ajidola — 1 Vote
5. Ayodeji Kazeem —6 Votes
6 Kayode Adaramodu —- 10 Votes
7. Olusola Eleka Kolapo —- 93 Votes
8. Adewale Aribisala — 56 Votes
9. Segun Oni —- 330 Votes
10. Bisi Kolawole — 671 Votes
