From campus journalism to one of the leading politicians in Ekiti State, South-west, Nigeria, here is the story of Senator Ayodele Arise.
- Date of birth: October 5, 1956
- Home town: Oye Ekiti
- Constituency: Ekiti North
- Wife: Adebisi Arise
- Children: Moyo Seye and Bowo
- State of origin: Ekiti State
- Former political party: Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)
- Present political party: All Progressive Congress (APC)
Political career
His full name is Sylvester Ayodele Arise, he was a former member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and former Nigerian senator who represents Ekiti North Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011 at the the Nigeria’s legislative chamber in 2007 to 211.
During his reign at the National Assembly, Ayodele Arise was appointed the Chairman Senate Committee on Privatization. He was also a member of other committees including Local and Foreign Debts, Water, Banking, Insurance & Other Financial Institutions.
He’s an outspoken politician and one of the critics of the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.
He dumped his former party for the ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC) before 2015 general elections.
On why he dumped his former party (PDP), Ayo Arise agreed that an encounter with Fayose is one of the reasons he dumped PDP.
“I am not a party to jumping from one party to the other, more so, we do not even have any ideological difference. During Obasanjo’s administration, I was given the ticket to run and I won by a landslide. But on this occasion, before I agreed to start speaking on behalf of Fayose, I spoke with my leaders in the PDP and they assured me that I would have my ticket back to the Senate but after that, Fayose had a different idea.
“It was not denying me the ticket that was my headache but not being able to know where a person stands at every point. That worries me. It is more of the fact that I did not think I could no longer trust Fayose.
“Once I am not able to trust him, I would not be able to deal with him straight because I do not know how to deceive people. I do not have that in my character. I was not seriously rattled but when I could not trust him, I had to move away from the PDP.
“At a point, I did not know what else to benefit from the Jonathan administration than following my people unless I just wanted personal money.
For me, the fact that I could not trust Fayose was why I moved. I was wary of him because of his character.
“That was why I had to move to APC. But now, we still talk but he knows that if I ask him to do something for me, I would be asking him because I would be having it in my subconscious that he would not do it.
That way, I am at home with myself.
”We do talk and we are very civil to each other. And I think that in all fairness to him, politically his style works for him but the truth is that we are very different people.”
Profile
Senator Ayodele Arise was born on October 5, 1956. His father was a judge. He has been inactive in politics since his days at the Ibadan Polytechnic.
He became the Assistant General Secretary of the Students Union Government at Ibadan Polytechnic from 1976 to 1977.
After his Diploma at Ibadan Polytechnic, he went to obtain an M.Sc Urban & Regional Planning from Alabama A&M University, Normal, Alabama USA in 1984. Ayodele Arise is also an A+ Certified Computer Engineer, Microsoft Certified Professional.
He was a former mathematics teacher and then working as a town planner. He dived into active business in 1981 buying and selling video players and tapes in Nigeria.
In the United States, he established a Computer Training Institute.
One of his successful businesses is Cards Technology Limited which he launched in 2000. The company built the first Third Party Processing Facility in sub-sahara Africa for MasterCard International.
This paved the way for the issuance of MasterCard by financial institutions in Nigeria to their customers, which opened great opportunity for Nigerians to participate in ecommerce and partake in other financial technology.
References:
The Sun News Online.