Council chairman, commissioner, two-term lawmaker and lifelong advocate for the grassroots – Prince Saheed Adekeye Olalekan Popoola brings to the Kwara South Senate race a record few can match.
As Kwara South prepares to choose its next senator, voters have a candidate who needs no introduction. Prince Saheed Adekeye Olalekan Popoola, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag-bearer for the Kwara South Senatorial District in the 2027 general election, has served his people at every level of state government – and has the scars, the experience and the results to show for it.
From the council secretariat in Offa to the Kwara State Executive Council and two terms in the State House of Assembly, Popoola has spent more than a decade and a half turning public office into public service. Few candidates in the district can claim to understand government from the community, the executive and the legislature alike. Popoola has done all three.
A true son of Offa
Born in Kolawolu Compound, Offa, Popoola trained first as a teacher, earning a Teachers' Grade II Certificate and a National Certificate of Education before graduating in Political Science Education. That grounding in the classroom has shaped a career devoted to the welfare of ordinary people.
His public service began on the Governing Council of Kwara State Polytechnic, where he helped steer one of the state's foremost tertiary institutions. He was then appointed Secretary to Offa Local Government Council, where he learnt the machinery of grassroots administration from the inside. He then rose to become Executive Chairman of Offa Local Government Area – and did so against the odds. In 2011, Vanguard reported that he was the only opposition chairman among Kwara State's 16 council chairmen, a measure of the trust Offa placed in him regardless of party.
As chairman, Popoola concentrated on what matters most to residents: roads, water and jobs. Projects delivered under his leadership included the 1.5-kilometre Samuel Adesuyi Close, commissioned during his tenure. For many in Offa, his administration is remembered as one that brought government to the doorstep of the people.
He has also served as Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kwara State – a role that, like his time on the Polytechnic council, kept him close to the education and welfare of young people.
A champion of the grassroots, ahead of his time
Long before local government autonomy became a national cause, Popoola was fighting for it. As council chairman in 2012, he called for constitutional reform to allow councils to receive their allocations directly, arguing that real development could reach the grassroots only if local governments had the financial strength to deliver it.
It was a bold position for a serving chairman to take, and history has vindicated him. Today, the financial independence of councils is at the heart of Nigeria's governance debate. Popoola was making that case more than a decade ago, from practical experience of what councils need to serve their people.
Serving the state's young people
Popoola's record at council level earned him a place at the highest table in the state. In January 2014, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed nominated him to the Kwara State Executive Council, where he served as Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development.
The portfolio placed him at the centre of efforts to engage, empower and harness the energy of Kwara's youth. It also gave him first-hand experience of running a ministry – policy, budgets and the delivery of programmes across an entire state – that few legislative candidates in Kwara South can match.
Two terms as the voice of Ojomu/Balogun
The people of Ojomu/Balogun constituency twice entrusted Popoola with their mandate, returning him to the Kwara State House of Assembly for the 8th and 9th Assemblies.
In the 8th Assembly, he chaired the House Committee on Information, Social Development, Tourism, Youth, Sports and Culture, and served as the House's voice in its weekly media briefings. He was part of an Assembly that passed significant legislation, including laws on violence against persons, health insurance and the rights of persons with disabilities.
When the 9th Assembly was inaugurated in 2019, Popoola was its only ranking member – the sole lawmaker among 24 with previous legislative experience. His knowledge of procedure and institutional memory were an invaluable asset to a chamber of newcomers. He took part in debates on reforms to the governance of education and local government administration, causes he had championed throughout his career.
When he parted ways with the ruling party in 2022, the Assembly moved to declare his seat vacant. Popoola stood firm, insisting that his move had the backing of his constituents and challenging the decision in court. It was a stand for the principle that a mandate belongs to the people who gave it.
Conviction over convenience
Popoola's career has been defined by a refusal to bend his principles for comfort. He stood with the opposition in Kwara when it was lonely to do so, helped build the movement that reshaped the state's politics in 2019, and walked away when he felt the party had lost its way. In his own words on joining the PDP in October 2025, loyalty in the party he left had shifted from the people to individuals.
Defeat in the 2023 House of Representatives contest for Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun did not dim his commitment. He stayed in the field, stayed close to his people and kept building. In April 2026, he declared his ambition for the National Assembly at the PDP secretariat in Ilorin, offering to serve wherever the party's zoning placed him.
The party's answer was emphatic. By August 2026, PDP stakeholders from all 83 wards of Kwara South had united behind him by consensus as their senatorial candidate – a rare show of unity that speaks to the confidence he commands across the district. His name now stands on the final candidate list for the 2027 Kwara South Senate election.
Why Kwara South needs Popoola in the Senate
Kwara South needs a senator who understands how federal decisions land in its towns and villages – on roads, water, schools, farms, health centres and jobs for young people. Popoola has managed those services at council level, overseen youth development at state level and made laws as a legislator. He knows where the gaps are because he has worked to close them.
He will go to Abuja ready to:
attract federal infrastructure and constituency projects to communities across the district;
push for jobs, skills and enterprise for Kwara South's young people;
support farmers and agro-processing to grow the local economy;
strengthen education and healthcare; and
carry forward his long-standing fight for stronger, better-funded local governments.
A senator must make laws, scrutinise budgets, oversee federal agencies and fight for a fair share of national resources. Popoola is one of the few candidates who has already done each of these jobs at state level. He will not need to learn on the job – he will start delivering from the first day.
A proven servant for a new chapter
From the Obatiwajoye compound to the council secretariat, the Executive Council and the House of Assembly, Prince Saheed Popoola has given his working life to the service of Offa, Kwara South and Kwara State. He has governed, legislated and campaigned; he has won and lost; and through it all he has stayed true to the people who first trusted him.
In 2027, Kwara South has the chance to send that experience, that conviction and that commitment to the Senate. Popoola is ready. The question is whether the district is ready to give its grassroots a voice in Abuja.
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