•LAGOS PDP Candidate, Deacon SEGUN ADEWALE (AEROLAND)
Before the elections, on Saturday 25th February 2023, his campaign posters were all over Ikeja and the entire Lagos West Senatorial district. He ran for senatorial elections.He wants to be the next Lagos West Senator. But INEC declared H.E. Oluranti Adebule as Winner. He does not agree. He insists he won.
Though everyone calls him Aeroland, his real name is Segun Adewale. He is a Deacon. He runs a conglomerate called Aeroland Group of Companies. But, he is a well known Lagos politician with a huge grassroot support base in the Alimoso area of Lagos.
Once you mention Aeroland, everyone will tell you about this strong grassroot politician from Alimosho in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
He is an ordained Deacon at Living Faith World outreach Church (Winners Chapel). He is married to Victoria Taiwo Adewale and the marriage is blessed with children. His son graduated from Princeton University, United States with a first-class degree in Computer Engineering and now works with Microsoft. His daughter attended the London School of Economics, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law, with distinction.
Deacon Segun Adewale (OOSA) is the Chairman of the Aeroland Group of Companies, among others.
He had his primary education at the Seventh Day Adventist School, Abule Oja, Lagos State, between 1972 and 1978.
He attended Oriwu College from 1978 to 1983 before obtaining his A levels at Oyemekun Grammar School in 1983 to 1985.
Between 1986 and 1990, he studied Geography at the University of Ibadan and graduated with a Bachelor of Science In 1995. He completed his Master’s degree in Public Administration from Lagos State University, after which he proceeded to complete a course in Ownerss-Managers Program (ONP) at the Lagos Business School.
He obtained a Certificate in Airline Management and Operations in 2012 and a Certificate in Flight Operations the following year from the Institute of Flight Operations and Dispatcher (IFOD) in Texas, USA.
He also possesses other professional qualifications in Management and public relations; including a Certificate from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Montreal, Canada, and a Diploma in Air Transport Business from Virgin Atlantic Airways (UK), to mention a few.
‘Aeroland’, as he is fondly called by friends and close associates, has a history of turning impossibility into a fortune.
His success story is that of going from nothing to something, having risen through the ranks to become an entrepreneur within the Travel Agency and Aviation sub-sector of the economy. ‘Aeroland’ has equally become a household name within the Commerce and Transportation Industry in Nigeria.
He sees Poverty as a scourge that must be greatly ameliorated in society.
Below is a catalogue of some of his philanthropic works, mainly in Lagos State where he has spent most of his life.
2003 TO DATE:
Provision of over 6 boreholes and portable water at: Amikanle town, Mosan town, Ayobo town, Ikeja Police Station Abeokuta St, Okunola, Aborutown, Baale’s Palace Oki (Lagos) Alaguntan Primary School, Iyana Ipaja, Lekki Ajasa Community, Oki Village, Iyana-Ipaja, Oko-Oba, Agege Bassey Street, Egbeda, Anjorin Street, Shasha, and Lagos, among others.
2004 TO DATE
Free Healthcare Services at Zenith Medical Center, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos to several less- privileged individuals.
2007 TO DATE
Donation of over 60 units of 3.5KVA electricity generating sets to Community Chiefs in Alimosho, LGA, Lagos.
2008 TO DATE
Construction of blocks of classrooms for Idimu Primary School, Lagos Construction of Community Town Hall, Sector 12, Abesan Estate, Lagos Rehabilitation of Police Station, Ikeja Police Station, Area ‘F’, Lagos.
2010 TO DATE
Scholarship: He has sponsored over 100 young students to private Universities like Babcock, Lead City in Nigeria.
2011 TO DATE
Aeroland has helped communities by providing them with good roads. This he has done by: Grading of 750 meters of Aje Street, Pleasure, Lagos Grading of 1 kilometre of road, Mosalashi Road, Egan, Lagos Construction of Mini-bridge Meiran, Iseri-Oshun, Lagos Grading of 1 kilometre of Ikola Road, Lagos Grading of 600 meters of Shingo Street, Police Station, Idimu, Lagos Grading of 850 meters of Abati Street, Egbeda, Lagos Grading 550 meters of Road Iyana Ipaja, Lagos Dredging of canal in Aboru, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos.
2012 TO DATE
Donation of N1 million to Ile-Abiye Hospital Health Project, Ado-Ekiti. Donation of N1 million each to the 2 wards in Alimosho, Lagos State Donation of over 20,000 sets of phones for phone call business among young people.
What is in his MANIFESTO?
HIS EMPOWERMENT AGENDA:
1. To set up a financial support outlet for women in Lagos West senatorial district to access interest-free loans to support their businesses.
2. University Student Loan Scheme: Scholarships for exceptionally brilliant students who are less-privileged and indigent stipends for the aged.
3. Monthly stipends for the aged and the physically challenged.
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA:
4. To sponsor a Bill that will avail the Youths access to study loans to pursue their education in both private and public institutions in Nigeria. This soft loan will be payable upon gainful employment after graduation.
5. To sponsor a Bill that will seek the establishment of tuition-free vocational centers in all Local Governments to engage and develop the vocational skills of the youths and artisans.
6. To sponsor a Bill that will seek the establishment of sporting centers in every Local Government where citizens can develop their talents and hone their skills.
7. To sponsor a Bill that will help reduce the cost of governance by proposing part-time legislative duties for lawmakers.
Deacon Segun Adewale, a seasoned politician,was Lagos PDP’s candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District in the last senatorial elections. And he was so sure he would win the elections. In fact, he told Citypeople that it would be a walk over because he was ready for the contest.
What were his plans? How did he plan to win? What did he do differently?
Few weeks back, he told City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE his plans and why he was so sure he would win the senatorial elections.
Why was he so sure of victory, we asked him? “It is because I am sure of my analysis and strategies”, he explained. “I have put in place all the strategies that will ensure my victory”.
What has he been doing in the last few weeks,preparatory to the elections,we asked him? “I have been busy trying to unify the party at the state level”, was how he explained his efforts. What were the preparations he put in place, as the elections drew near. “We are doing what we are supposed to do”, he added. “Our emphasis was to try and unify members of our party, rather than go out there to be campaigning for people to vote for us, when we have challenges in the party. Because we have different groups, we have a lot of break aways from the party unlike in the past, when it was our foremost leader, Chief Olabode George that was controlling the party. But now, we have break aways like the Dosumu Group, we have the Doherty Group, we have the Ogunlewe Group, and all these people are from the same house initially and if I want to go to the elections with the house divided, I might end up losing the elections because of a divided house. So, what I am trying to do now is to try and bring as many people on board, as I can. I want to try and bring at least 65% on board, then I will win the elections because after them, the elections is just between the PDP and the APC. The other people trying to vote for Labour are the youths, the elite and some of the Ndigbo who will say Peter Obi is their brother. And to them, he is from their tribe, not that he has better chances of winning the elections. They believe that his pedigree is better than that of our own candidate and the pedigree of that of APC candidate. So, they would like to vote for Labour. But that won’t really affect us in Lagos, because we have our traditional base which I need to appeal to, majority of them are still within the party in the South-South. They are there and they have not gone with the Obidients, because the Vice-President is from their region. So, maybe about 40% of the South East & maybe the people that normally have sympathy for either PDP (maybe some of them, the Elites) will try to vote for Labour. But my preparation is more geared towards bringing our party together. That is what I am doing now. That is why you hardly see me outside campaigning.”
How did he see the fortunes of his party at the national level? “Its bright. It’s okay. But our chances depend on how we can manage our crisis in-house, PDP has the chances of winning everything from top to bottom, everything. But it depends on how we manage the crisis. I believe since Atiku, paradoxically, has The Unifier as his nickname, if he can tidy everything up within the party, give everybody what they want and sacrifice where he needs to. He also needs to manage people like Kwankwaso who was in PDP before, manage Peter Obi who was in PDP before and manage the Vice President of Obi who is also a PDP man. Kwankwaso was a PDP man formerly. They are ones fighting each other. That is the only challenge I see facing PDP at the national level which is beyond me. It is at the level of the national to call themselves to order. They can talk to Peter Obi. It is not as if Obi is going to do any damage per se, to us. There is no way Obi is going to go to Delta State and win Okowa, or Obi go to Bayelsa and win or go to Akwa-Ibom and win. It is impossible. Even in his Anambra, he is still struggling with Soludo there, because if Soludo decide to allow Labour party because Peter Obi believes he is representing the Igbos people, it will still affect his own APGA which is like the regional party there too.
So, the only party that is all the more encompassing is the PDP. So, it depends on how our leaders manage those crises.
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