Hunye in Ake, Yayi in Ijebu: Is Ogun APC Campaigning With Two Candidates?

There are political ironies.

Then there is what is happenening inside the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress.

Yesterday, One APC governorship contender mobilised supporters in Abeokuta, while another was doing the same in Ijebu.

Both are preparing for the same 2027 governorship election.

This is what some people would call an “accident of elegbe.”

Abayomi Hunye is took his campaign to Abeokuta, with his flag-off activities centred around the Ake Palace area.

At about the same time, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, was doing his own campaign mobilisation in Ijebu.

The irony is difficult to miss.

Same party. Same governorship election. Two political camps. One ticket.

And a court case sitting in the middle of everything.

When one party begins to look like two

The Ogun APC crisis did not begin with today’s campaign activities.

It has been building for months.

Adeola emerged from the party’s May governorship primary with 304,055 votes, while Hunye was recorded with zero votes.

The result was presented as a decisive victory for Adeola.

The problem was that Hunye did not accept the outcome.

He challenged the process in court, arguing that the primary was flawed and should be cancelled.

The APC, however, has maintained that Adeola is its duly nominated governorship candidate.

The party has also disowned Hunye’s claim to the ticket and said he was suspended from the party in April over alleged anti-party activities.

Hunye disputes the party’s position and insists that the court will determine the matter.

So the political question has become remarkably simple.

Who exactly is campaigning for the APC in Ogun?

For APC loyalists, the answer is Yayi.

For Hunye and his supporters, the matter is still before the court.

And that is where the drama becomes interesting.

Hunye refuses to disappear

Hunye has made it clear that he does not intend to quietly walk away.

He has repeatedly argued that he is challenging the process that produced Adeola rather than merely declaring himself the candidate.

In August, he said the governorship ticket remained before the Federal High Court and insisted that nobody should assume the matter had been settled until the court gives its verdict.

He has also questioned why the party accepted his nomination fee, screened him and allowed him to participate if a consensus candidate had already been settled upon.

Those claims remain contested.

The APC has a very different version of events.

That disagreement is now playing out not only in legal documents and television interviews, but also on the political ground.

And then came Yayi

Yayi has not been waiting around for the court drama to stop his political machinery.

The senator has been moving around the state, meeting supporters and building his campaign structure.

On September 10, Governor Dapo Abiodun joined thousands of APC supporters at the Dipo Dina International Stadium in Ijebu-Ode for a major mobilisation in support of Adeola.

The governor described the party as ready for the 2027 election and pointed to its grassroots structure across Ogun.

That is not the behaviour of a political camp expecting its candidate to remain on the sidelines.

Yayi’s supporters have also been building structures at the ward and polling-unit levels.

Earlier this month, APC Ward 16 in Abeokuta North inaugurated 560 Yayi ambassadors across 28 polling booths as part of its mobilisation for 2027.

The message is clear.

Yayi’s camp is behaving like a campaign organisation preparing for an election.

Hunye’s camp is doing the same.Ogun has now entered the awkward stage

This is where the phrase “accident of elegbe” becomes almost too perfect.Imagine explaining the situation to a voter who is not following the legal arguments.

“Which APC candidate are you supporting?”

“Yayi.”“What about Hunye?”

“He is also APC.”

“Who is the candidate?”

“Ask the court.”

That is the political comedy sitting underneath a very serious legal dispute.

Elections require certainty.

Campaign organisations need certainty.

Party members need certainty.

Candidates need certainty.

Yet Ogun APC is currently operating in a political environment where the party leadership recognises Adeola while Hunye continues to challenge the process that produced him.

But there is a serious side to the joke

The humour should not hide the political consequences.

If the court eventually upholds Adeola’s nomination, Hunye’s campaign will face a difficult political reality.

If the court rules in Hunye’s favour, the consequences could be even more significant.

Either way, the dispute has already created a narrative that the APC will have to manage.

Opposition parties will watch closely.

Political observers will watch closely.

And APC supporters will be asking whether the dispute can be resolved without damaging the party’s ability to enter the 2027 election as a united machine.

That question matters because Ogun is not a state where political competition can be taken lightly.

The APC is the ruling party.It has the advantage of incumbency and a substantial political structure.

But elections are rarely won by structure alone.

Unity matters.

Candidate acceptance matters.

Grassroots mobilisation matters.

And the ability to present one clear message to voters matters.

The court has become the referee

For now, the safest political conclusion is that the courts remain central to the dispute.

The APC has recognised Adeola.

Hunye has rejected the process that produced him and is challenging it.

Neither political rally changes the court record.

Neither crowd changes a judgment.

Neither campaign poster settles a nomination dispute.

That is why yesterday’s competing political activities are more than just campaign events.

They are a visible demonstration of how unresolved the APC’s internal battle remains.

Ogun voters are watching

The biggest audience in all of this is not the politicians.

It is the voter.

The voter in Ijebu.

The voter in Abeokuta.

The voter in Yewa.

The voter in Remo.

The voter in Ogun Waterside.

They will eventually decide what matters to them.

For now, however, they have front-row seats to an unusual political spectacle.

Hunye is campaigning.

Yayi is campaigning.

The APC says Yayi is its candidate.

Hunye says the court has not finished speaking.

And Ogun’s 2027 political drama is gathering speed.

So yes, this is what we call an “accident of elegbe.”

But beneath the laughter lies a serious question for the APC: Can a party fight over its governorship ticket in court, campaign in two directions on the ground, and still enter the 2027 election looking like one united political machine?

The court may answer the question of the ticket.

The voters will eventually answer the bigger question of who gets Ogun.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the competing mobilisation by Hunye and Yayi has turned an already contentious APC governorship dispute into a highly visible political spectacle across Ogun State.

ValidViewNetwork reports that while the APC has formally recognised Adeola, Hunye’s continuing legal challenge means the dispute remains politically significant until the court has had its final say.

For now, one thing is certain.Ogun APC has one party, one governorship election and, at least politically, two men behaving as though they are already on the campaign trail.

The court, as usual, has the final whistle.