Yayi to Marcus-Bello, Others: “Prove I’m From Ekiti in 24 Hours or Face Court”

The Ogun 2027 governorship contest has taken another turn, and this time the battle is heading towards the courtroom.

Senator Solomon Adeola, the All Progressives Congress candidate for governor, has given two of his critics 24 hours to prove their claims that he is originally from Ekiti State or face legal action.

The two people named are Hon. Abayomi Hunye, a suspended APC member from Tube in Ipokia Local Government Area, and Ambassador Folake Marcus-Bello of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Adeola made the threat through a statement signed by his media adviser, Chief Kayode Odunaro, on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

The senator accused both individuals of making false and defamatory statements about his origin and family during television interviews.He demanded that they produce evidence to support their claims.

The 24-hour challenge

According to the statement, Hunye and Marcus-Bello appeared on television programmes where they questioned Adeola’s Ogun roots and claimed that he is an indigene of Ekiti State.Adeola says neither provided evidence to substantiate the allegation.

He has now issued what amounts to a public challenge.

Produce the evidence within 24 hours or face lawsuits.

The senator said he was particularly angered by what he described as categorical claims about his origin despite the absence of supporting evidence.

He also accused Marcus-Bello of making claims concerning the burial places of his parents in an attempt to support the argument about his ancestry.

Adeola described the allegations as false and defamatory.

He said he had reached the point where he would no longer ignore them.

“Enough is enough. They should produce their evidence in 24 hours or be ready for my lawsuits,” the senator said in the statement.

The claims remain allegations from the respective political actors.

Neither Hunye nor Marcus-Bello’s response to the 24-hour ultimatum was included in Adeola’s statement.

Why the Ekiti argument matters in Ogun

On the surface, the dispute appears to be about ancestry.

Politically, however, it goes much deeper.Adeola is seeking to become the next governor of Ogun State at a time when indigeneity, zoning and senatorial rotation have become major issues in the 2027 contest.

The senator represents Ogun West in the National Assembly and has built his political career around the district.

His opponents’ questioning of his origin therefore goes directly to a politically sensitive question: Is Solomon Adeola sufficiently rooted in Ogun to govern the state?

That question has particular weight in Ogun West, where the demand for the zone to produce the next governor has become one of the defining arguments of the election.

The APC has selected Adeola. The PDP has selected Ladi Adebutu.

Both camps are therefore preparing for a contest in which identity, political history, zoning and competence will all compete for voters’ attention.

Adeola says the allegation is an old weapon

The senator’s statement also argues that the Ekiti-origin claim is not new.

According to his camp, opponents previously used the allegation as a political strategy to frustrate his emergence as senator representing Ogun West.

The statement claims that the campaign failed because voters in the district still elected him during the 2023 National Assembly elections.

Adeola’s camp now believes the same allegation has returned because of his 2027 governorship bid.

The senator is currently facing a wider political contest in which his candidacy has already generated arguments over Ogun West, Yewa politics, party loyalty and the question of who has the strongest claim to succeed Governor Dapo Abiodun.

That makes the origin controversy more than a personal dispute. It has become part of the larger political battle over Ogun’s next governor.

But the burden of proof now matters

This is where the controversy becomes particularly interesting.

Political campaigns are often full of claims about ancestry. Some are genuine questions. Others are campaign weapons.

But once a claim is made publicly, particularly on national television, evidence becomes important.

If Hunye and Marcus-Bello have documentary or historical evidence supporting their claims, Adeola’s 24-hour challenge gives them an opportunity to put it before the public.

If they do not, the threatened lawsuits could transform a campaign argument into a legal dispute.

There is also another side to the matter. Adeola’s threat to sue does not by itself establish that the allegation is false.

Nor does making an allegation establish that it is true. The evidence, if produced, will have to speak for itself.

That distinction is important in an election season where political accusations can easily become accepted as facts before anyone tests them.

Ogun 2027 is becoming a battle over more than parties

The Adeola controversy arrives as the Ogun governorship contest becomes increasingly personal and identity-driven. The APC wants to retain power. The PDP wants to take it.

Other political actors are trying to shape the conversation around zoning, competence and regional interests.

The question of who is genuinely from where has now joined that list.

But voters will ultimately have to decide whether ancestry should determine their choice or whether the bigger questions should be competence, character, performance, policy and the ability to govern Ogun.

ValidViewNetwork reports that Senator Solomon Adeola has now drawn a clear legal line under the Ekiti-origin controversy, giving Abayomi Hunye and Folake Marcus-Bello 24 hours to produce evidence or face lawsuits.

The development raises the temperature of an already heated Ogun 2027 contest. It also creates a simple test for political discourse in the months ahead. Make the claim. Produce the evidence. Accept the consequences.

For now, Adeola has made his position clear.

The next move belongs to Hunye and Marcus-Bello.