Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
A former governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State, Abayomi Hunye, has instituted a legal action before the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking a judicial examination of all past electoral documents submitted under oath by Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, over alleged inconsistencies in his declared state of origin.
In the suit, Hunye is asking the court to order a judicial review of the statutory declarations made by Adeola in his previous Independent National Electoral Commission nomination forms to ascertain the exact state of origin claimed by the senator in earlier elections. The demand was contained in a formal statement issued in Lagos by Hunye’s media adviser, Femi Oyewole, following a press briefing conducted by his lead legal counsel, Olamide Victor. The legal challenge, Victor clarified, was not focused on questioning Adeola’s indigeneity as a Yewa native, but rather on addressing fundamental questions of legal consistency and alleged perjury in public documents sworn to under oath. “We are not challenging the indigeneity of Senator Olamilekan Adeola as a Yewa son. What we are bringing before the court is a matter of statutory integrity and constitutional compliance,” Victor said.
“He has held public elective offices over two decades. What state of origin did he declare under oath in his previous INEC nomination forms when he contested in Lagos State? Was it Ekiti State? Was it Lagos State? Any deliberate inconsistency in documents submitted under oath carries severe legal implications,” Victor asked. Although the legal team did not distribute copies of the contested historical forms during the press conference, Victor stated that certified true copies obtained from INEC repositories would be tendered as exhibits in court during trial.
The lawsuit represents the latest escalation in the contest between Hunye and Adeola over the APC governorship ticket for the 2027 election in Ogun State. Addressing questions regarding his locus standi, Hunye emphasised that he was not seeking a judicial shortcut to be declared the candidate, but wanted the court to determine whether the party’s internal nomination process complied with electoral laws. “I am not asking the media or the public to declare me the candidate. I am asking the judiciary to look at the process, examine the facts under the Electoral Act, and allow the law to take its proper course,” Hunye stated.
The aspirant also faulted claims by the Ogun APC State Working Committee that he was suspended from the party on April 7, 2026, following an alleged petition originating from his ward in Tube, Ipokia Local Government Area. Exposing contradictions in the party’s account, Hunye questioned why the leadership allowed him to purchase the N50m governorship expression of interest and nomination forms on April 28, three weeks after his alleged suspension, if his membership status was invalid. “If I was genuinely suspended on April 7, why did the party accept my N50m payment on April 28? Why was my application processed, and why was I cleared by the screening committee to contest the primary?” he asked. Hunye participated in the APC governorship primary on May 21, where Adeola was declared winner with 304,055 votes out of 305,287 accredited voters, while Hunye was officially credited with zero votes. He disclosed that after exhausting internal dispute mechanisms by submitting formal petitions to the APC Governorship Primary Appeal Committee without receiving a response, he exercised his right to seek judicial redress.
The controversy over Adeola’s state of origin has been building for weeks, with multiple political figures raising questions about the senator’s ancestry. Former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, who is also the South-West Woman Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, has accused Adeola of making conflicting declarations about his state of origin, challenging him to carry out his threat to sue her. Marcus-Bello alleged that documents existed showing that Adeola had at different times claimed links to Ekiti, Lagos and Ogun states, an allegation she said raised questions about declarations he had made in the past. She claimed that employment records from Adeola’s period at The Guardian Newspapers identified Ekiti as his state of origin, and that he subsequently identified with Lagos, where he built his earlier political career, before moving politically to Ogun State. Adeola served in the Lagos State House of Assembly before representing Lagos West in the Senate from 2015 to 2023, and currently represents Ogun West in the Senate. Marcus-Bello argued that the alleged inconsistencies should be subjected to judicial scrutiny. “There is something about lying on oath, which is perjury,” she said.
The PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, has also joined the controversy, challenging Adeola to institute legal action against him over claims concerning the senator’s alleged indigene status. Adebutu said he was prepared to present documents before a court to substantiate his claim that Adeola was not an indigene of Ogun State. “I am daring their lawyers to sue me because the truth is that Yayi is not an indigene of Ogun State. I am waiting for their lawyer to also sue me so that we can go and present all our documents in the court of law,” Adebutu said at a PDP campaign rally in Odogbolu Local Government Area.
The legal challenge is not the only one facing Adeola’s candidacy. The New Nigeria Peoples Party governorship candidate, Akinbola Hammed Rotham, has also sued the APC gubernatorial candidate, challenging his eligibility and documentary claims concerning his indigeneship status in Ogun State. Rotham said the legal action was not motivated by personal animosity, but by what he described as the need to subject every candidate seeking to govern Ogun State to the same standard of constitutional compliance, documentary integrity and public accountability. He stated that documents he obtained from INEC through the Freedom of Information process have raised questions that, in his view, require judicial determination. The Ogun State chapters of the Young Progressives Party and BOOT Party have also denied withdrawing or authorising the discontinuance of a legal challenge concerning the eligibility and state-of-origin questions surrounding Adeola’s governorship candidacy, following a statement by Adeola’s media adviser that the cases had been dropped.
Adeola’s media adviser, Kayode Odunaro, has described the allegations concerning the senator and his family as false and libellous, saying they were made on national television without evidence. Adeola had given Marcus-Bello and Hunye 24 hours to substantiate the allegations or face legal action. Amid the controversy, traditional authorities in Kemta, Ogun State, have affirmed Adeola’s ancestral ties to the community, with the Oluwo of Kemta and Baaye of Egbaland among those who have vouched for his roots.
The lawsuit comes amid heightened political activity ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the governorship and state assembly elections scheduled for February 6, 2027. Ogun State, as a key South-West state, will be an important battleground, and the contest for the APC governorship ticket has become one of the most contentious in the country. The outcome of the legal challenge will determine whether Adeola’s candidacy survives judicial scrutiny, and whether the questions raised about his state of origin are resolved in his favour or become a lasting liability. For now, the matter is before the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the coming weeks will reveal whether the court orders the examination of the senator’s past electoral declarations and what that examination uncovers.
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