Oluyinka Gbenga Akerele

Mr. Oluyinka Gbenga Akerele, a native of Ayede-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, was born at Ado Ekiti, on 12th of April 1964 to the family of Ore and Bisi Akerele. He had his primary school education at Emmanuel Anglican Primary School from 1969 to 1974, attended Mary Immaculate Grammar School for his secondary school education, both in Ado-Ekiti. He had his ‘A’ levels at the Ondo State College of Arts & Sciences (OSCAS) Ikare Akoko in the then Ondo State after which he read English and literary appreciation at the University of Benin, Benin City and graduated with a B.Ed. (Hons) in English Art. He did his National Youth Service (NYSC) with the then Ogun Polytechnic now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta and ever since has been involved in various legitimate enterprises.

From youth, Mr. Yinka Akerele was very enterprising. During his secondary school days he was known to assist his mother in her trade to hawk wares for sale on the street of Ado Ekiti. Immediately after his Youth Service in 1988, Yinka ventured into buying and selling cocoa with one of his friends.

He thereafter joined a private concern; Panalpina World Transport in Apapa, Lagos where he served as the Transport Officer, where he had a short stay. At a stage he enrolled as an apprentice printer from there he got the required experience to venture into the printing business. He got patronage from ELF Marketing, Tate & Lyle Sugar Co and many others. Because of his business versatility and the dearth of readily available corporate employment, he ventured into other fields. He became a cobbler, designing skin shoes for the wealthy and later started a cleaning business called Corporate Cleaners.

After some years in the cleaning business he got employed by CITECO Technical as an Administrative Manager. CITECO’s major clients were the Nigerian Airport Authority, West Africa Portland Cement Co. (WAPCO) and Coca Cola. His performance was quite impressive such that as a graduate of English, he moved to Ibadan factory of the Company to head the Engineering department with twenty (20) Engineers under him. He used this opportunity to gain practical experience in metal fabrication. Due to his outstanding performance, after six (6) months, he was recalled back to Lagos and promoted to the position of General Manager of the company. This opportunity enabled him to be equipped with more knowledge on metal fabrication and practical managerial experiences.

In 1996, he resigned his appointment with CITECO to form his own company, Olugbenga and Sons, Pogma Nig. Limited and Olugbenga and Sons Ltd. where he started metal fabrication jobs for top class companies. He later moved to Port Harcourt where his innovative designs attracted the attention of Coca Cola Company. God smiled on him through Coca Cola. His company designed, built and still hold the patent right to:
• Coca Cola mini-depot,
• Coca Cola pushcart,
• Coca Cola Mini tables,
• Coca Cola Ice carts and
• Coca Cola 16/18 crates carrier.
His companies’ clients include NYSC, ECONET, MTN, and CONOIL among others.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Yinka Akerele was born into a politically conscious family and learnt the trade quite early as a child. He ventured into full time politics in 1999 when he showed interest in the chairmanship position of the Ifako- Ijaye Local government in Lagos State in 2001. He won under the Alliance for Democracy (AD), but due to the political altercation between the Lagos State and the Federal government, he along with others was not sworn in. He later joined the Peoples Democratic Party in December 2004 and was appointed the Senior Special Assistant (Roads Monitoring and Special Works Projects) to the former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, and was representing the Minister on FERMA road monitoring projects which has enabled him a good knowledge of the federal roads in the 36 states of the federation.

With the love of Ekiti in mind and the urge to contribute to the development of his State, Yinka decided to contest for the position of Governor of Ekiti State under the PDP. Yinka Akerele’s quality as a grassroots politician came to the fore as he succeeded in building a strong structure within the PDP with his Ajinde Ekiti campaign organisation even when the field was dreadful and became well accepted throughout the State. He, along with twelve other aspirants, contested at the primaries for the gubernatorial ticket of Ekiti State under the PDP on December 9th 2006, where he emerged the topmost candidate. He was to go for a runoff election with the ultimate certainty of winning the primaries but he was asked to step down for the candidate that came third for no reason till date. In the interest of peace, the good people of Ekiti State, and with great collective pain of the teeming supporters, he decided to bury the hatchet for the State to move forward to its destined glory.

Mr. Yinka had fashioned out a six point Agenda during his campaign for governor of Ekiti State and he still believes passionately in them. These are:

a. Provision of standard, affordable and qualitative social amenities for the people;

b. Providing farmers with friendly credit facility that will empower them and enable them to sustain and grow their businesses;

c. Providing free and compulsory qualitative education that is comparable to any country in the world because of the resources to do it;

d. Providing the enabling environment for the private sector to deepen, widen and grow the economy

e. In the interest of the Nigerian masses while not alienating the well-known interest of the private investor; Investing in the health of the people by ensuring that basic health services are accessible, affordable and reliable targeted at enhancing the wellbeing of the common man who remains the engine of social, economic and national development;

f. Creating an environment where good public and corporate governance becomes the norm and not the exception; where the emphasis is in establishing a new Nigerianness that is based on positive values of patriotism, sacrifices, hard work and excellence.

The policies outlined above shall be his guiding principles in whatever position he finds himself. He pledges this on his Honour.

Mr. Yinka Akerele is married with children