Former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, has challenged the Yewa identity of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.
Rather than oppose the ambition of the Yewa people to produce the state’s next governor, Marcus-Bello said her objection was specifically to Adeola’s alleged claim of Yewa ancestry. “Senator Olamilekan is not from Yewa. He is not from Yewa,” she said.
She added that Yewa deserved an opportunity to produce the next governor because the senatorial district had never occupied the position.
Marcus-Bello said she was prepared to present documents relating to Adeola’s family background and challenged the senator to appear before her to respond to the evidence she referenced.
“Let him come and sit in front of me. We would bring the documentation that I have, the programme of event of his father’s burial with his Oriki and his progeny,” she said. “His Oriki is in his father’s burial programme. Let him come and prove otherwise.”
The PDP chieftain also questioned Adeola’s political history, alleging that his early political activities and career were closely associated with Lagos State before he moved his political ambition to Ogun West.
She further made claims about his family background, including references to his father’s roots and his mother’s burial in Epe.
Marcus-Bello argued that the issue extended beyond a disagreement between political opponents, saying the question of who qualifies as an indigene of Ogun State had implications for the state’s political leadership. “This one concerns the whole of Ogun State,” she said.
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The former diplomat maintained that Ogun State had its own political and demographic peculiarities and should not be treated like Lagos State.
“The local politics of Ogun State is reserved for the indigenes of Ogun State. It is not an all-comers game,” she said. “Ogun State is peculiar. We are semi-rural. We are not Lagos where people come and claim all sorts of things.”
She also questioned the process through which Adeola emerged as the APC governorship candidate, alleging that the party did not conduct a proper primary.
“They did not choose him. They didn’t have a proper primary. So many things are wrong with this candidate,” Marcus-Bello alleged.
Adeola’s supporters and media aides have rejected Marcus-Bello’s claims, insisting that the senator is a son of Yewa.
They have pointed to his longstanding relationships with traditional institutions, political stakeholders and communities across Ogun West as evidence of his acceptance in the area.
The supporters have also cited the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, who has publicly identified Adeola as a son of Yewa.
Adeola’s supporters have further referenced the traditional title of Aremo of Yewaland conferred on him by the monarch, arguing that the honour reflects his acceptance by the Yewa traditional institution.
The dispute comes as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 Ogun State governorship election, with Adeola’s ancestry emerging as a new point of contention in the contest.
However, Marcus-Bello’s claims remain allegations, and the documentary evidence she referenced has not been publicly examined in the information available for this report.
EighteenElevenMedia
