“I Have Yayi’s Documents, He’s not from Yewa” — Marcus-Bello

There is an old question in Ogun politics that refuses to die.It has survived elections, defections, governorship ambitions, chieftaincy titles and several rounds of political argument.

Now, as the 2027 governorship contest gathers speed, the question has returned with a new challenge:Is Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, actually a son of Yewaland?

Former Nigerian ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, says no.

More importantly, she says she has the documents to prove it.

Speaking during a live television programme on Monday, Marcus-Bello, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain and the party’s South-West women leader, directly challenged Adeola’s claim to Yewa ancestry.

“Senator Olamilekan is not from Yewa. He is not from Yewa,” she declared.

That is a serious political claim.

It is also not a new one.

What makes Monday’s intervention different is the promise of evidence.

Marcus-Bello said she possesses documents relating to Adeola’s family history and challenged the APC governorship candidate to sit before her while they are examined.

“Let him come and sit in front of me,” she said.

According to her, the programme of Adeola’s father’s burial contains his father’s Oriki and genealogy.

“His Oriki is in his father’s burial programme. Let him come and prove otherwise.”

That changes the character of the argument.It is no longer simply one politician saying another politician is not an indigene.

It is a claim that can, at least in principle, be tested against records.

The controversy did not begin in 2026

Adeola’s ancestry has been debated publicly for years.

In 2017, when he was preparing for an earlier governorship bid, descendants of Isaga communities in Ogun and neighbouring Lagos publicly rejected claims that he was a stranger to Ogun.

The group described him as their son and traced his ancestry to Isaga.

Chief Lawrence Osayemi, then Balogun of Isaga, said Adeola’s paternal ancestry went through Isaga-Orile to Ago-Isaga and Pahayi in Ilaro.

The account linked the family’s migration to the dispersal of Isaga communities following the Dahomean invasion of 1862.

That history matters because the argument has never been as simple as asking where Adeola spent his political career.

For years, Adeola represented Lagos in the National Assembly.His opponents have used that political history to question his connection to Ogun.

His supporters, however, have consistently separated political representation from ancestral origin.

Their argument is straightforward: representing Lagos does not erase a family connection to Yewaland.

Then came the Aremo title

The dispute became even more interesting in 2021. When the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, moved to confer the title of Aremo of Yewaland on Adeola, opponents protested.

The Ogun West Liberation Forum questioned his precise origin and called for a fact-finding investigation.

Adeola’s media aide rejected the objection, saying the title had been conferred by the Yewa Traditional Council.

The Olu of Ilaro later went further.

Oba Olugbenle publicly described Adeola as a bona fide son of Yewaland and said the title was the decision of the Yewa Traditional Council.

The monarch also said the title recognised Adeola’s contribution to the development of Yewaland.

Adeola was eventually installed as Aremo of Yewaland in 2022. That title now sits at the centre of an awkward political question.

Can someone who has been publicly recognised by the paramount ruler of Yewaland and the Yewa Traditional Council as a son of the land still be politically dismissed as an outsider?

Or does traditional recognition settle only social and cultural acceptance, while ancestry must still be established through family records?

That is where Monday’s intervention becomes important.

Marcus-Bello is making a different argument

Marcus-Bello is not saying Yewa people should not produce the next governor. In fact, she says the opposite. She argued that Yewa has a legitimate claim to produce the next governor because the zone has never occupied the state’s top political office.

Her objection, she stressed, is to what she considers a disputed claim of Yewa origin.

“If what you have stated is true, Yewa has a better chance to produce a governor because they have never produced one,” she said.

She also invoked Ladi Adebutu, the PDP’s leading figure in the Ogun 2027 contest, describing him as a genuine son or daughter of Yewa whom she said the party would support.

But Marcus-Bello went beyond ancestry. She questioned Adeola’s political history, arguing that his early political identity was closely associated with Lagos before his governorship ambition shifted towards Ogun West.

She also referred to his father’s background and his mother’s burial in Epe while arguing that his family roots require closer examination.

Those are allegations.

They are not established facts simply because a senior politician has made them.

That distinction matters.

Then there is the family story

On the other side of the argument stands the account supplied by Adeola’s supporters and family representatives over the years.

Historical reports from 2017 record Isaga descendants publicly identifying Adeola as their son.

The account placed his paternal family in Ago-Isaga, Pahayi, Ilaro, and linked the family to the wider Isaga network that spread across parts of Ogun and Lagos.

A later family account identified his paternal line through Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye, Ogundimu-Sangoloni and Olege.

It placed the family in the Onibata compound in Pahayi, Ilaro. This is where the argument becomes more difficult to reduce to political slogans.

Marcus-Bello says she has documents.

Adeola’s supporters say the family genealogy already exists.Isaga descendants have publicly claimed him.

Yewa traditional authorities have recognised him.

His critics still question the precise ancestry.

And now a senior opposition figure says she is ready to put her own records on the table.

Ogun’s “indigene” question is bigger than Yayi

There is another layer to this.Marcus-Bello said Ogun politics should not be treated like Lagos politics.

“Ogun State is peculiar,” she said.

“The local politics of Ogun State is reserved for the indigenes of Ogun State. It is not an all-comers game.”

That statement exposes the larger political prize behind the ancestry argument.

The 2027 contest is not only about who can govern Ogun.It is also about who has the strongest claim to represent which part of Ogun.

Yewa’s long-running demand for the governorship gives the question particular weight.

If the argument is simply about competence, ancestry should not be the central issue.

But if the political bargain is that Ogun West should produce the next governor, then the identity of the person presented as the candidate becomes politically explosive.

This is why Yayi’s ancestry has followed him for years.

The primary question is still unanswered

Marcus-Bello also questioned how Adeola emerged as the APC candidate, alleging that the party did not conduct a proper primary and that several things were wrong with his emergence.

Those are political allegations and would require documentary evidence to establish. She further referred to a book containing allegations against Adeola and challenged his supporters to respond.

Again, allegations are not convictions. They must be tested.

And that is precisely why her claim about possessing documentary evidence is the most important part of Monday’s intervention.

If the documents exist, they should be examined.If they contradict Adeola’s publicly stated ancestry, that should be reported.If they support his claim, that should equally be reported.

That is how this controversy should be settled. Not by shouting. Not by political endorsements. Not by the number of supporters at a rally. Not even by how many traditional titles a politician has received.

By records.The Yewa question is now back on the table

For years, the political class has been comfortable allowing ancestry disputes to rise during elections and disappear afterwards.

The 2027 contest may make that harder. Yayi has already been publicly recognised by Yewa traditional authorities.

His family supporters have produced a genealogy.Isaga descendants have defended him. His opponents continue to question his roots.

Now Marcus-Bello says she has documentary evidence that can settle the argument. The challenge is therefore no longer only to Yayi.

It is also to those holding the records.

Bring the documents. Bring the genealogy. Bring the burial programme. Bring the family history. Bring the traditional records.

Let the evidence speak.

Because if the question is truly about who is a son of Yewaland, Ogun deserves something better than another election-season shouting match.It deserves an answer that can survive the election.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the renewed ancestry dispute has opened one of the oldest unresolved questions surrounding the 2027 Ogun governorship race: whether political acceptance, traditional recognition and documented ancestry all point to the same answer in Yayi’s case.

Until the records are examined, the argument remains exactly that, an argument.

And perhaps that is the real story this morning.

Everybody has a version of Yayi’s origin. Now someone says she has the documents.