Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the state’s education authorities of directing public school teachers and headteachers to attend a meeting with the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, in a move the opposition party has described as an illegal politicisation of the civil service and an abuse of power. The PDP, in a statement issued on Saturday, August 1, 2026, by the Media Aide to its governorship candidate, Afolabi Orekoya, alleged that a memo circulating within the public school system mandated teachers in both primary and secondary schools to attend a meeting scheduled for Monday, August 3, at the Alake Pavilion in Abeokuta, under the guise of “statutory and administrative duties.” The party claimed that the directive was issued by the Chairman of the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, Biodun Sanyaolu, and the Chairman of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria in the state, Alhaji Adeosun Tajudeen Adekunle, on the instruction of the Executive Chairman of the Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board.
The PDP argued that there was no legal or administrative basis for the Teaching Service Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board to compel teachers to abandon their primary responsibilities for a mandatory meeting with a partisan political figure. The opposition party described the alleged directive as a blatant abuse of power and the weaponisation of the state’s civil service for partisan political mobilisation, adding that the instruction for each branch to appear in “unique attire for easy identification” further exposed the gathering as a political jamboree and a forced solidarity parade rather than an official engagement. The PDP maintained that the education sector and civil service must remain insulated from partisan politics, stressing that teachers should not be turned into “political foot soldiers” to be marshalled at the whims of the ruling party. The party also urged TESCOM and SUBEB to focus on addressing the decay in public schools, improving teachers’ welfare, and strengthening the standard of basic education in Ogun State, instead of serving as a mobilisation wing for a political agenda.
However, the Chairman of TESCOM, Biodun Sanyaolu, strongly denied the allegations, describing them as false and insisting that neither TESCOM nor SUBEB issued any directive compelling teachers to attend the meeting. Sanyaolu explained that the meeting was requested by the teachers’ unions themselves, who wanted to hold an interactive session with Senator Adeola. He noted that Adeola had supported the unions over the past four years and had also held meetings with other groups, including farmers, market women, and the Nigeria Labour Congress. “The position of the opposition party is a blatant lie. Yayi has done so much for the unions in the last four years. They are the ones who requested to have an interactive session with him. As a person who is a candidate, he will gladly accept the request just as he has met several groups. We never at TESCOM and SUBEB mandated anyone, please,” Sanyaolu said.
The PDP, in its statement, appealed to teachers, headteachers, and other civil servants to remain professional and not be intimidated, insisting that their loyalty should be to the state and the constitution, not to any individual’s political ambition. The party also warned against what it described as attempts to undermine the neutrality of public institutions, insisting that residents of the state would continue to resist actions capable of compromising the integrity of the civil service. As of the time of filing this report, neither the Ogun State Government, the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, the Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board, nor the APC governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi), had issued further statements beyond the initial responses.
The controversy comes just weeks after the Ogun State Executive Council approved four landmark bills designed to tackle violent crimes, ritual killings, cultism, extortion, and the growing challenge of missing persons across the state, and as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 governorship election. The dispute over the alleged mobilisation of teachers highlights the deep political tensions in Ogun State, where the ruling APC and the opposition PDP are already locked in a fierce battle for control of the state, and where the neutrality of public institutions has become a flashpoint in the countdown to the 2027 polls.
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