Kudirat Adegunwa-Balogun, chief financial officer of Rite Foods Limited, has been named the All Progressives Congress deputy governorship candidate for Ogun State’s 2027 election, putting a sitting executive of an active manufacturing company on a political ticket for the state where its main factory operates.
Governor Dapo Abiodun presented Adegunwa-Balogun, 51, at an APC caucus meeting in Abeokuta on Sunday. She will run alongside Senator Solomon Adeola, the party’s governorship candidate, in what Abiodun described as the outcome of consultations with party leaders across the state. The deputy governorship slot was zoned to Ogun East Senatorial District, with her home constituency of Ijebu Central Federal Constituency receiving the nod.
The commercial dimension of the nomination is hard to separate from the geography. Rite Foods’ main production facility sits in Ososa, Ijebu-Ode, inside Ogun State. The plant manufactures Bigi carbonated soft drinks and Fearless Energy Drink, the two brands that built the company into one of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s most credible Nigerian challengers. Rite Foods’ operating environment is directly shaped by the policies of the same state government Adegunwa-Balogun is now seeking to enter.
She has served as CFO and executive director responsible for finance and IT at Rite Foods since the company’s early growth phase. Her brother Seleem Adegunwa runs day-to-day operations as managing director. The family’s founder, Dr. Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa, built Ess-ay Holdings across six decades into one of Nigeria’s most diversified private industrial groups, with Rite Foods as its most prominent consumer-facing asset.
Drinkabl.media’s coverage of Nigerian beverage executives entering public roles has tracked a steady blurring between industrial ownership and political influence. The NB CEO’s frank assessment of lending costs and tax volatility earlier this year showed how exposed Nigerian manufacturers are to state-level policy decisions, and Rite Foods faces the same pressures. The Adegunwa-Balogun nomination takes that dynamic further. Rather than lobbying a government, the company’s CFO would be part of one.
What that means operationally remains open. An active CFO holding a deputy governorship role raises questions about how the two responsibilities are managed, and whether Rite Foods intends to formalise any governance separation before the 2027 campaign accelerates. Drinkabl.media’s reporting on beverage executive transitions shows companies typically announce a clear handover plan. Here, none has been disclosed. The campaign is underway, and Adegunwa-Balogun remains on the company’s executive payroll.
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