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The controversy over the ancestry of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi), has deepened, with former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, insisting he is not from Yewa, while Adeola dismissed the claim as false and challenged his accusers to prove it.
Marcus-Bello, former Ogun State Commissioner for Women Affairs, said during a live television programme that she had documentary evidence which, according to her, contradicted Adeola’s claim to Yewa ancestry.
But Adeola rejected the allegations as “assertive and outrageous lies” and gave Marcus-Bello and Abayomi Hunye 24 hours to produce evidence that he is not from Yewa or face legal action.
“Senator Olamilekan is not from Yewa. He is not from Yewa. It saddens me as a mother, as a politician, as a Nigerian that people will come out and tell blatant lies because they want a particular thing,” Marcus-Bello said.
She argued that the issue was significant to the 2027 governorship contest because Ogun West, comprising predominantly Yewa communities, has yet to produce a governor since the creation of Ogun State.
According to her, Yewa deserves the opportunity to produce the next governor, but the candidate should be someone whose ancestry in the area is not in dispute. “If what you have stated is true, Yewa has a better chance to produce a governor because they have never produced one.
“But give us — and I am speaking authoritatively also on behalf of Ladi Adebutu — a real son or daughter of Yewa and we will support that daughter or son of Yewa. Let us get it clear.”
Marcus-Bello challenged Adeola to a public debate, saying she was prepared to present documents which she claimed established a different ancestry.
“Let him come and sit in front of me. We would bring the documentation that I have — the programme of events of his father’s burial in Ekiti State with his Oriki and his progeny,” she said. “His Oriki is in his father’s burial programme. Let him come and prove otherwise.”
She also cited Adeola’s political career in Lagos and made claims about his parents’ origins and burial places as part of her argument that his roots were outside Yewa.
Adeola, however, rejected the claims and insisted that those questioning his ancestry must substantiate their allegations rather than repeat them publicly.
In a statement by his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro, Adeola said Marcus-Bello and Hunye had made false claims about him and his family on national television.
“I watched in utter disbelief as these characters that I hardly know utter assertive and outrageous lies about my origin without any proof,” he said.
Adeola said one of his accusers claimed he was from Ekiti State but, when challenged, could not identify the particular place in the state he allegedly hailed from.
He equally dismissed the claims about his parents and their burial places.
“The other one was lying about the locations of the graves of my parents as if she was part of the undertakers at the burial, all in a futile effort to justify an unsustainable falsehood.
“Enough is enough. They should produce their evidence in 24 hours or be ready for my lawsuits.”
Adeola maintained that the controversy over his ancestry was not new, saying similar claims were deployed against him ahead of his bid to represent Ogun West in the Senate.
According to him, the allegations failed to persuade voters in 2023 when he won election as senator for Ogun West, and their resurgence ahead of the 2027 governorship election was politically motivated.
Adeola had previously built his political career in Lagos, where he served in the Lagos State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate before contesting the Ogun West senatorial election in 2023.
Marcus-Bello, however, maintained that a previous political career or electoral victory did not resolve the question she had raised about ancestry.
“The local politics of Ogun State is reserved for the indigenes of Ogun State. It is not an all-comers game.
“Ogun State is peculiar. We are semi-rural. We are not Lagos where people come and claim all sorts of things,” she said
Neither the documents Marcus-Bello said she possesses nor independent documentary evidence resolving the competing claims was presented in the material available to this newspaper.
The dispute, therefore, remains a contest of claims between Marcus-Bello and Adeola, with the former demanding that Adeola establish his Yewa ancestry and the latter putting the burden on his accusers to prove their allegation that he is not from the area.
With the 2027 governorship contest gathering momentum, the controversy has pushed the politically sensitive question of ancestry and representation in Ogun West back to the centre of the state’s governorship politics.
