Teslim Kolawole Folarin (; born 30 October 1963) is a Nigerian politician, he was the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State for the 2023 gubernatorial election which he lost to the incumbent governor

Seyi Makinde Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (; born 25 December 1967) is a Nigerian engineer, businessman, and politician who has served as the governor of Oyo State since 2019. He is an engineer and a subject matter expert on fluid and gas metering. He is the g ...

. He previously served as the senator representing Oyo Central senatorial district from 2003 to 2011; and from 2019 to 2023.

Early life and education

Teslim Kolawole Folarin was born on 30 October 1963, to Alhaji and Alhaja Hamzat Folarin. He stemmed from Baale House in Oja Igbo area of Ibadan North-East Local Government area of

Oyo State Oyo is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo ...

. Folarin is the Head (Mogaji) of his family House and a ranked traditional Chief in Ibadanland. He is the Laguna Olubadan of Ibadanland. Folarin attended primary school in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

; his secondary education was completed at Nigeria's premier

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

, Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos. Folarin holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in political science from the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

and a diploma degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, USA. He spent some years gathering valuable civil service experience in the UK, including management roles at the Department of Trade in London before returning to Nigeria in 2002. Folarin performed his obligatory NYSC tenure in Kaduna and joined politics thereafter.

Political career

Folarin contested and won the senatorial seat to represent Oyo Central in 2003 at the age of 39 on the platform of the

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

and was re-elected for a second term in 2007 on the platform of the same party. Folarin remains the only legislator in Oyo State who has served two terms at the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. At the Senate, he was appointed Leader of the Senate. Folarin also served on the Senate Committee on Business & Rules, Marines and Transport although his particular interests were in education, power supply and water resources. Folarin was involved in the Power probe in 2008. As the Leader of the Senate, he led debates on all Executives Bills and sponsored several private Bills himself. These included the Insurance Act, Armed Forces Pension Act and several others. Folarin won the gubernatorial ticket of his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014. He lost the election to the incumbent Governor Senator Abiola Ajimobi of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

. Folarin defected to the opposition party

in December 2017. Folarin was elected as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Oyo Central senatorial candidate in September 2018. Folarin won the senatorial position in the 2019 Oyo central senatorial district election defeating the incumbent senator, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu and other candidates. He was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content in the 9th Senate. He also sits on several other committees including National Intelligence, INEC, Interparliamentary, Constitutional Review, Finance, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and Airforce. Folarin contested in the 2023 Oyo State gubernatorial election on the platform of All Progressives Congress but lost to the incumbent Governor

of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Controversy

In 2011, Folarin, and three others were charged with a murder of trade union activist Lateef Salako.

Personal life

Folarin was married to Barr. Angela Folarin until her death in 2022, they had children.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folarin, Teslim 1963 births Living people Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) Senators of the 9th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 6th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 5th National Assembly (Nigeria) University of Ibadan alumni Yoruba politicians Methodist Boys' High School alumni Recipients of the Order of the Federal Republic