His meteoric rise in politics is not accidental. He was once discovered to have flair for the game by dint of his position as a team player and incurable socialite. And, it is delightful that the tempo has been sustained with a renewed vigour. He is a practical politician of vast experience, an Ibadan traditional chief who has links at all the stations of life. As a leader in polity, he has impacted lives positively both within and outside government at various times. Little wonder, his popularity rating cuts across all frontiers of life Viz; religion, social life, public/private workforce and the students, political parties just to mention a few.
Of significance, electoral contests are his familiar terrains. His first electoral contest ushered him into the position of local government chairmanship in Ibadan North during the NRC/SDP era of IBB’s two-party system. His stints in governance system and as an efficient administrator led him into occupying the positions of SSG and Chief of Staff respectively under the glorious regime of Governor Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja. Thereafter, he held sway as the Chairman of Odua business conglomerate in the years 2011 to 2014. In all these positions, he performed creditably well to the extent that his administrative styles have since remained the working templates for the successive administrators in government.
Chief Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli’s influence in the politics of Oyo state transcends Oyo South Senatorial District. He wields influence in all the thirty three local government council areas in Oyo state. To wit, he is an household name among the politicians at the grassroots across board. Also, he is often mentioned among the non-poiticians in the state having played the roles of a benefactor to many of them in government service, private sector and retail business outfits. In law practice, he is never a push-over. He has always offered free legal services to the less privileged in Ibadan land and beyond.
With all his years of relevant experiences in politics and governance system, there is no doubt asserting that he shall defeat those greenhorns contesting against him in the forthcoming 2023 senatorial elections in Oyo-south. One, his opponents are self acclaimed technocrats who have never participated in the political administration of Oyo-state. Two, they are making forays into the strange fields where they are aliens. Some don’t even know the extent or boundaries of the Senatorial District they aspire to represent.
They don’t even have business venturing into the contest except for the exercise of their fundamental human rights. None of them have political structures to rely on. Rather, they have the conviction that the electorates have a price tags. What a corrosive insult? Beyond this simple analysis, the citizens hardly trust the greenhorns in politics owing to their sufferings in the hands of these money bags in recent past. To all intents and purposes, odds are in favour of Chief Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli to emerge as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Oyo-south in 2023.
It is heart warming that he has reactivated his ever resilient political structures across all the nine local government council areas in Oyo state. These comprises of seasoned grassroot politicians, community leaders, leaders of various religions, opinion moulders and leaders alike. They are on the field working round the clock to ensure that the district benefits from the able and credible leadership of Chief Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli as opposed the trial and error efforts of his opponents. It is no gainsaying, there is going to be a repeat of the UNCP era, where Chief Sharafadeen Alli won in all the councils in the district and emerged a Senator, but, for the annulment of that credible exercise.
