Yayi’s Fake Ogun Roots Exposed: Ex-LG Boss Insists APC Candidate Is Ekiti Man Who Can’t Win 2027 Poll

A former Ijebu East Local Government chairman has launched a blistering attack on All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, claiming the lawmaker is not an indigene of Ogun State but an Ekiti man who changed his name and invented Ogun ancestry purely for political gain.

Wale Adedayo, who once served as council chairman under the APC administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun before falling out with the state government, made the explosive allegations on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme. He insisted that Adeola’s real identity is Sulaimon Ogunleye from Ekiti State and challenged him to produce credible proof of any genuine roots in Ogun.

“Should I call him Sulaimon Ogunleye? He is from Ekiti. It is Solomon Adeola. The man you call Yayi. That was his original name,” Adedayo declared. He accused the senator of using “pecuniary means” to manufacture claims of Ogun ancestry, describing such tactics as fraudulent. “He doesn’t have any root in Ogun State… There is nothing wrong with people living in Lagos State coming back home to contest, but people using pecuniary means to claim ancestry is fraudulent.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Adedayo’s remarks reignite a long-running controversy that has dogged Adeola’s political career. Born on August 10, 1969, in Lagos to Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (née Akinola), Adeola built his early political base in Lagos, serving in the Lagos State House of Assembly, the House of Representatives representing Alimosho, and as senator for Lagos West between 2015 and 2023. In 2023 he switched to Ogun West and won the senatorial seat. The APC later adopted him as its consensus governorship candidate for 2027, positioning him as the face of the long-standing demand for a governor from the historically marginalised Ogun West (Yewa/Awori) zone.

Supporters and traditional institutions in Ogun have repeatedly pushed back against the “outsider” narrative. They trace Adeola’s paternal lineage to Ago-Isaga/Pahayi in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area, linking it to the historic Isaga-Orile community dispersed after the 1862 Dahomey invasion. Maternal ties are claimed through Kemta in Egbaland (Abeokuta).

Prominent traditional rulers, including the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III, and the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, have publicly recognised him. His media adviser, Kayode Odunaro, has dismissed Ekiti origin claims as “spurious” and the work of “political buccaneers,” insisting Adeola and many others share historical Isaga-Orile roots that later settled in Ilaro.

Adedayo, however, remains unconvinced and predicted a political earthquake that would sweep the APC out of power in Ogun State at the next general election. While he conceded that President Bola Tinubu would likely retain Ogun in the 2027 presidential race, he forecast heavy losses for the ruling party in the governorship, senatorial and House of Representatives contests.

“There is going to be seismic changes in terms of earthquakes because things will move in the direction that a lot of people would not expect. The way things are going now, APC is gone in Ogun State and PDP is going to be there in 2027 for a number of reasons, and there is no doubt about that,” he said. “The President will have his way in Ogun State, but when it comes to the governorship, senatorial and house of elections, it is a different ball game.”

He claimed the shift would be felt across all 20 local government areas of the state, yet insisted the transition would remain peaceful. “There is going to be a seismic change in all the 20 local governments, but it is not going to be a battleground where people will kill themselves.”
Adedayo’s intervention comes against the backdrop of intensifying political manoeuvring in Ogun. Adeola has leveraged his position as a ranking senator and former chairman of the House Public Accounts Committee to fund visible constituency projects across the three senatorial districts, building a cross-zonal network of support. The APC leadership, including Governor Abiodun and former governors, endorsed him as consensus candidate earlier this year. Opposition voices and some local groups continue to question his credentials, while recent court challenges to his candidacy by several smaller parties were withdrawn.

Whether Adedayo’s ancestry allegation gains traction or is dismissed as recycled opposition rhetoric remains to be seen. What is clear is that the battle for Ogun’s top seat in 2027 is already being fought as much over identity and belonging as over policy and performance.

Adeola’s camp maintains that traditional recognition, community acceptance and constitutional eligibility settle the matter. His critics, led most vocally by the former local government chairman, insist the questions of origin have never been satisfactorily answered.