Ogun PDP condemns alleged politicitization of education sector, civil service

The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned a memo directing all public school headteachers and teachers to attend a meeting with the APC governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.

In a statement on Saturday, Afolabi Orekoya, Media Aide to the Ogun PDP Governorship Candidate, said the memo was circulating within the state’s public school system ahead of the August 3, 2026 meeting scheduled for the Alake Pavilion in Abeokuta.

According to the statement, the directive was issued by the Chairman of the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, TESCOM, and State Chairman of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria, AOPSHON, Comrade Adeosun Adekunle.

 It was said to be under the purported directive of the Executive Chairman of the Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.

The memo mandated both primary and secondary school teachers and headteachers to attend what was described as “statutory and administrative duties,” Orekoya said.

Orekoya said there was no legal or administrative basis for TESCOM and SUBEB to compel teachers to leave their classrooms for a meeting with a partisan political candidate. 

He described the action as a “blatant abuse of power” and the “weaponisation of the state’s civil service for partisan political mobilisation.”

The PDP also faulted the instruction in the memo for each school branch to appear in “unique attire for easy identification,” noting that it proved the gathering was a “political jamboree and a forced solidarity parade” rather than an official engagement.

The party argued that the education sector and civil service must remain insulated from partisan politics, asserting that teachers are nation-builders who should not be turned into “political foot soldiers” to be marshalled for the ruling party’s agenda.

“The Ogun State civil service, particularly our education sector, must remain fiercely insulated from partisan politics. Our teachers are nation-builders entrusted with the future of our children, not political foot soldiers to be marshalled at the whims of the ruling party. Coercing civil servants into attending political gatherings under the threat of administrative duty is illegal, unethical, and highly oppressive.

“This new act being introduced to Ogun State politics is strange, draconian, and condemnable.”

Orekoya called the directive “illegal, unethical and highly oppressive,” adding that coercing civil servants under the threat of administrative duty sets a “strange and draconian” precedent in Ogun politics.

He urged TESCOM and SUBEB to instead focus on addressing problems in public schools, including infrastructural decay, poor welfare for teachers, and declining standards in basic education, instead of serving as a mobilisation wing for a political agenda.

The PDP also appealed to headteachers, teachers and other civil servants to remain professional and not be intimidated, arguing that their loyalty should be to the state and the constitution, not to any individual’s political ambition.