APC governorship candidate Yayi has unveiled the ITESIWAJU development agenda for Ogun State, calling for continuity between administrations and urging voters to compare candidates’ programmes before the 2027 election.
Continuity as a development strategy
Yayi presented the agenda on Monday during a meeting with members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Ogun State. He said the state could speed up its progress if each administration completed and improved worthwhile projects and policies inherited from its predecessors.
He pointed to Lagos State as an example of the benefits of consistent governance. Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, successive Lagos administrations have continued work on reforms and initiatives involving infrastructure, transport, revenue mobilisation and urban planning, he said.
Ogun could generate similar economic and developmental gains, Yayi argued, if governments stopped discarding useful projects simply because earlier administrations had started them.
He said the electorate should receive clear answers about candidates’ plans for young people, the economy, women, industrial development, infrastructure, contractors and agriculture. Voters, he added, should decide between candidates on the basis of those issues.
The ITESIWAJU framework
Yayi, who represents Ogun West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said the agenda followed broad consultations throughout the state. He described it as a wide-ranging plan intended to guide development across multiple areas.
The letters in ITESIWAJU stand for:
- I: Infrastructure
- T: Tourism and Culture
- E: Economic Empowerment
- S: Security and Welfare
- I: Inclusive Growth and Well-being
- W: Women, Youth and Poverty Eradication
- A: Agriculture and Food Security
- J: Job Creation and Industrialisation
- U: Urbanization and Transparency
The candidate said the proposal was intended as more than an election document. Its purpose, he said, was to respond to residents’ needs in different sectors rather than serve simply as a vehicle for winning office.
Yayi said he had developed the plan deliberately over three years and that it had been carefully designed to address the needs of people throughout Ogun State.
He added that thousands of residents had contributed through consultations and maintained that Ogun possessed both the economic capacity and human resources necessary to achieve stronger development.
Appeal for issue-based competition
Yayi called on rival governorship contenders and political parties to make their own programmes public. Voters, he said, should have the opportunity to examine and compare competing plans before the 2027 poll.
He also rejected the dispute over his ancestral origins, characterising it as political manipulation and an effort by opponents to divert attention from the substantive issues in the election.
Yayi said the controversy reflected desperation for power and insisted that he remained focused on his vision for Ogun’s progress. He also said that, under an administration led by him, public appointments would go only to people with the required qualifications.
Earlier, Ogun IPAC chairman Comrade Abayomi Sanyaolu praised Yayi for what he called significant achievements across the state’s three senatorial districts.
Sanyaolu urged all governorship candidates to avoid provocative rhetoric and attacks on individuals during the 2027 campaign. Instead, he called for contests centred on issues, with candidates presenting their manifestos and policy programmes to the electorate.
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Yayi presents the ITESIWAJU plan and advocates continuity in Ogun governance.
