Folarin Kolawole Teslim

Teslim Kolawole Folarin (born 30 October 1963) is a Nigerian politician who was the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State in 2023 and lost to incumbent governor Seyi Makinde. He previously represented Oyo Central Senatorial District in the Senate from 2003 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. Born to Alhaji and Alhaja Hamzat Folarin, he is from Baale House in Oja Igbo, Ibadan North-East LGA, Oyo State, and holds the titles of Mogaji of his family house and Laguna Olubadan of Ibadanland.

He attended primary school in Lagos and completed secondary school at Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Ibadan and a diploma from Harvard University, USA. He also worked in the UK civil service, including management roles at the Department of Trade in London, before returning to Nigeria in 2002, completing NYSC in Kaduna, and entering partisan politics.

Folarin won election to the Senate in 2003 at age 39 on the PDP platform and was re-elected in 2007, remaining the only legislator in Oyo State to serve two Senate terms. He served as Senate Leader and on the Senate Committee on Business and Rules, Marines, and Transport, with stated interests in education, power supply, and water resources. He participated in the 2008 power probe, led debates on executive bills as Senate Leader, and sponsored private bills including the Insurance Act and Armed Forces Pension Act.