31st March, 2011
Senator Ganiyu Solomon will be contesting the Lagos West Senatorial election for the second time on Saturday, 2 April, having been returned unopposed at the party’s primaries. His strongest point is his popularity at the grassroots. The Mushin-based politician did not come about this by accident. His father, Alhaji Rafiu Ishola Solomon was the Secretary of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo-led Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN.
Senator Solomon had overtime learnt the rope of politics from his father and has even moved beyond the level of the game he inherited from his father. A consistent leader, Ganiyu Solomon has overtime, as a result of his grassroots popularity earned himself the appellation, ‘untouchable’ as he was the only Senator in Lagos Action Congress whose position was not in contention among the serving senators in the state. On Saturday, he will be contesting the Lagos West Senatorial election for the second time, having been returned unopposed at the party’s primaries.
Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon was born into the family of the late Alhaji Rafiu Ishola and Alhaja Idiat Abike Solomon (Nee Oluwa) on December 19, 1959. He graduated from the University of Lagos, UNILAG, with BSc in Political Science. After a stint in the private sector, Solomon took after his father and went into active politics.
He commenced his sojourn with an election into the Lagos State House of Assembly on the platform of Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) and won with a landslide. But that era was short-lived as a result of military’s handling of the polity at the time. In 1999, when the nation returned to democratic path, Solomon aligned with progressives in the Alliance for Democracy (AD), contested election as Chairman of Mushin Local Government area of Lagos State and won.
He, however, did not seek re-election at the expiration of his constitutional first term. Instead, he took a shot at House of Representatives where he served for another four years representing the people of Mushin Federal Constituency 1. After the four years at the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Solomon moved on to the upper chamber as a senator presently representing the largest Senatorial District in the state- Lagos West. Solomon is the chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market where he has continued to display rare understanding of that sector of the economy. He is also a very influential member of the Senate Committee on Sport.
He has also sustained the philanthropic legacies of his late father, but on his personal platform- The GOS Foundation. Instituted some years ago, the GOS Foundation has continued to assist the teeming population of Lagosians, irrespective of political leanings in their various areas of needs which include but not limited to skill acquisition scheme, education development, micro-credit scheme, health care support and poverty alleviation scheme.
A devout Muslim, Solomon has bagged several awards, both home and abroad on account of his contributions to human capital development. A former president of Rotary Club, Isolo, Solomon is a member of several professional bodies; member, Ikoyi and Prime Clubs in Lagos. He is married and blessed with children.