Hon. Bisi Kolawole, the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was born in Ile-Ife, the present day Osun State, on 20th September, 1956 to an Efon-Alaaye parentage of Chief Ezekiel Kolawole of the Meyolanu dynasty; and a woman of impeccable beauty, Mrs Alice Mojirola Kolawole, a native of Modakeke, who Daddy married in the course of his business sojourn in Ile-Ife.
As Bisi was growing up in Ile-Ife with the other children, the lot fell on his father to assume the position of High Chief Obaloja, which was the third in leadership hierarchy of Efon-Alaaye to the traditional ruler of the navient town.
This, in 1961, the Kolawole family relocated from its town of residence, Ile-Ife, to Efon-Alaaye to enable Daddy take up the onerous task of chieftaincy leadership.
Education
In 1963, Hon. Kolawole enrolled at the St. John’s Anglican Primary School, Efon-Alaaye, where he successfully graduated in 1969 with the Primary Six Leaving Certificate.
In 1970, he gained admission into the prestiguous Doherty Memorial Grammar School, Ijero-Ekiti, from where he obtained the West African School Certificate, WASC, in 1974.
Thereafter, he proceeded to Ahmadiya, College, Agege, Lagos, for his Higher School Certificate, HSC.
In the course of association and interaction with friends on probable future career opportunities, he decided to seek for the manifestation of a hitherto latent talent he had for works of the art. He opted to go to the famous Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, where he earned the Higher National Diploma, HND, in Graphics Design, Art and Printing in 1981.
His thirst for further education and quest for knowledge propelled him to the University of Ado-Ekiti, UNAD, now Ekiti State University, EKSU, where at different times, he earned Post Graduate Diploma and Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He later enrolled for the LLB degree at the National Open University, NOUN, Abuja, a programme which for now he has put on hold because of time constraints.
Hon. Kolawole did the mandatory national service at the NYSC Headquarters, between 1981 and 1982; and immediately after the NYSC service, he secured an employment with NICHEMTEX Industries, Ikorodu, Lagos, in 1982.
He voluntarily disengaged from NICHEMTEX Industries in 1992, as a Production Manager, to seek further opportunities.
Thereafter, he registered his own private company, with specialisation essentially in printing and merchandising.
Politics
Hon. Kolawole was born into politics, as his father, High Chief Ezekiel Kolawole, even while still resident at Ile-Ife, at a point, became a councillor for Efon-Alaaye under the then Ekiti West Divisional Council in the 1950s, under the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group, AG.
Besides, Bisi grew up in the Obaloja palace of his father, and had first hand experience of the dispensation of justice whenever cases were brought before his father for adjudication. He was undoubtedly through this process, among others, exposed to the interplay of politics and this must have caught his attention and aroused his interest.
An active participant in Students’ Union politics during his sojourn at the Yaba College of Technology, Hon Kolawole has always been an advocate of social justice, fighting for the interest of the oppressed.
The defining moment of his incursion into partisan politics came during the advent if civil rule in 1999, when he was persuaded to move to Efon Alaaye from Lagos. He soon became a supervisor in the Efon-Alaaye Local Government Area.
A golden fish has no hiding place, they say, hence his exemplary performance and unique capacity for social engineering made Efon Alaaye people to send him to the state House of Assembly to represent them under the platform if the PDP in 2007.
While in the House, he was Chairman of the House Committee on Works, where he not onl truly distinguished himself, but also became a positively noticeable honourable member of the House of Assembly.
He was a significant stabilising force in the Assembly and indeed, the state, at a time the 26-member Assembly was composed of 13 PDP and 13 Action Congress, AC, later Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, members apiece.
Hon. Kolawole was appointed by the Federal Government as a member of the Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, in 2013.
In October 2004, former Governor Ayodele Fayose appointed him to his administration as a Special Adviser on the Environment; and he was later in July 2015, during Fayose’s second tenure made Commissioner for the Environment, a position he held till the end of the tenure of the Fayose administration in October, 2018.
During the 2019 general elections, he contested to represent his federal constitiency l in the House of Representatives.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the PDP and currently the elected chairman of the PDP in Ekiti State.
Without being immodest, one can say that Hon. Kolawole, who is aspiring to the governorship of Ekiti State, as the flag-bearer of the PDP, in 2022, is indeed a bank of experience in politics. He has served at the local, state and federal levels of government. He has served in both the executive and legislative arms of government. He has also been privileged to understudy and understand the workings of political party system.
Besides, Hon. Kolawole has since 1999, had the unique and uncommon opportunity of working with all elected governors of Ekiti State, namely, His Excellency, former Governor Niyi Adebayo, His Excellency, former Governor Ayodele Fayose, His Excellency, former Governor Segun Oni and His Excellency, incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi.
He is deeply grateful to the governors for the honour of association or interaction. He appreciates infinitely former Governor Fayose for always believing, supporting and stimulating his aspiration.
Hon. Bisi Kolawole is a politician of unassailable character and impeccable sense of sociability, hence he effortlessly relates with all people and accords them due respect. Hon. Kolawole is urbane, civil, suave, sartorial, jovial, cordial, bold, courageous, disarming, hardworking, intellectually resourceful and impressively full of new ideas. He is fully prepared to serve Ekiti State and raise her banner.
He is married to a very amiable and strong believer in God, Deaconess Adeola Kehinde Kolawole, nee Fajilade, from Ikere-Ekiti. The marriage is richly blessed with grown- up children, who are making impacts in Nigeria and abroad.
