The crisis within the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) intensified on Friday as Abayomi Hunye, a former governorship aspirant, filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, challenging the consistency of the lawmaker’s past declarations of state of origin.
Hunye is seeking a judicial review of all statutory declarations Adeola submitted under oath in previous Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination forms. The suit aims to determine the exact state of origin the senator claimed in earlier elections, particularly those he contested while based in Lagos State.
In a formal statement issued in Lagos by Hunye’s media adviser, Femi Oyewole, following a press briefing by lead counsel Olamide Victor, the legal team emphasised that the action does not dispute Adeola’s claim of being a Yewa indigene of Ogun State. Instead, it centres on questions of legal consistency and potential perjury in documents sworn 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 added that certified true copies of the contested forms, obtained from INEC repositories, would be tendered as exhibits during the trial. The legal team did not release copies of the documents at the press conference.
The lawsuit marks the latest escalation in the bitter contest between Hunye and Adeola over the APC governorship ticket for the 2027 election in Ogun State. Adeola, who currently represents Ogun West in the Senate, emerged as the party’s consensus candidate after an internal process that Hunye has challenged. Reports indicated Adeola scored overwhelmingly in the party’s electoral process while Hunye recorded zero votes, a outcome Hunye has disputed in court.
The fresh legal action follows weeks of public controversy over Adeola’s ancestral roots. In mid-September, Hunye and former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi Folake Marcus-Bello, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, separately alleged on national television that Adeola is an indigene of Ekiti State rather than Ogun. They pointed to purported inconsistencies in past records, including claims linked to his time at The Guardian newspaper and details surrounding his parents’ burial.
Adeola strongly denied the allegations, describing them as “false and libellous.” Through his media adviser, Kayode Odunaro, he gave Hunye and Marcus-Bello 24 hours to produce evidence or face lawsuits. He recalled that similar claims about an Ekiti background had been used unsuccessfully against him during his 2023 senatorial bid in Ogun West.
Marcus-Bello later doubled down, accusing Adeola of perjury and stating she was still waiting to be sued. She insisted that allowing someone she described as a “liar” to govern Ogun would damage the state’s reputation. Hunye had earlier welcomed Adeola’s threat of litigation, saying the matter was already before a court and that truth would serve as a defence.
Adeola has a long political career spanning Lagos and Ogun. He previously served as a lawmaker representing Lagos West before shifting to Ogun politics. Supporters, including traditional authorities in parts of Ogun, have affirmed his ties to the state, while critics continue to question the consistency of his public declarations.
The case is expected to further heat up the already tense race for the Ogun governorship in 2027, as factions within the APC and opposition figures intensify scrutiny of candidates’ eligibility and personal histories. No date has been fixed for the hearing of Hunye’s suit.
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