Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The internal crisis rocking the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a dramatic legal turn on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, as the state Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Omowunmi Isaac, and her brother, Kunle Odide, filed a N5 billion defamation suit against 35 elders of the party over an allegedly libellous publication. The suit, filed before the Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, stems from a publication in the Nigerian Tribune newspaper on February 2, 2026, which the claimants argue was designed to damage their reputation and standing within the party. Among the defendants is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Kola Olawoye (SAN), who served during the administration of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
The dispute, which has deepened divisions within the APC in Owo Local Government Area, centres on a letter written by Olawoye to the National Chairman of the APC. According to Olawoye, who is the first defendant, the letter was a legitimate internal party communication intended to draw the attention of the national leadership to what he described as "funny developments" within the APC in their local government. He maintained that the letter was couriered directly to the party chairman and was never published to a third party. However, the claimants insist that the letter was authored, signed, and caused to be published by the 35th defendant in a national daily, resulting in what they describe as severe reputational damage.
Speaking after the court proceedings, counsel to the claimants, Mr. Olaoluwa Imoru, explained that one of the most damaging statements in the publication referred to Mrs. Isaac as "the governor's mummy"—a description that falsely suggested she exercised undue influence over Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa. "They are saying, invariably, that this person exercised a kind of authority or power over His Excellency, the governor. And that is not the case here. She is an appointee of the governor. She is subservient to the governor; she is answerable to the governor and not the other way around," Imoru told the court. The claimants are seeking declarations that the publication was "extremely defamatory," "disparaging," and "needless," in addition to aggravated, special, and general damages for the alleged injury to their reputation.
At Tuesday's hearing, Olawoye appeared for himself and seven other defendants, while separate lawyers represented the remaining 27 co-defendants. The defendants had initially come to court prepared to challenge the jurisdiction of the court and the competence of the processes filed by the claimants through a preliminary objection. However, the claimants filed an application seeking to correct defects in their court processes, which the defendants did not oppose. Justice Yemi Fasanmi, the presiding judge, consequently awarded N100,000 in costs to each of the 35 defendants, totalling N3.5 million, before adjourning the matter to October 8, 2026. The court also ordered that the parties must maintain the status quo ante bellum, meaning they are not to take any further action or communicate about the issue until the case is determined.
The legal battle has exposed deep fractures within the APC in Ondo State, particularly in Owo Local Government Area, where both the claimants and defendants hail from the same council. Despite the escalating tensions, Olawoye disclosed that attempts had been made to resolve the dispute out of court, with the defendants reaching out to relevant authorities in the state, but the moves had yet to yield the desired result. "As an elder of the party, you must know that I will accommodate settlement. We made moves. We talked to the authorities concerned in the state. But they feel otherwise," Olawoye said. He called for unity within the party ahead of the 2027 general elections, stressing that internal disagreements must not distract from the party's political objectives. "Now that we have a big election coming up that concerns the President of this country, we must not give room for anything to disunite us, to set us apart. Our goal now, our target, is that Tinubu must win," he declared.
This is not the first controversy involving the Ondo Finance Commissioner. In February 2025, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state called for her removal over alleged padding of the 2025 budget, an accusation the APC swiftly dismissed as false. Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa reappointed Isaac as Commissioner for Finance in February 2025 after his inauguration, highlighting her continued importance in his administration. The current legal battle, however, represents a significant escalation of internal party conflicts, coming at a time when the APC is seeking to consolidate its position ahead of the 2027 elections.
As the case proceeds to the next hearing on October 8, 2026, the outcome will have significant implications for the Ondo APC's internal cohesion and its ability to present a united front ahead of the 2027 general elections. For now, both parties have been ordered by the court to maintain the status quo and refrain from further communication on the matter until the case is determined.
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