You Can’t Defeat Yayi’s Record by Rewriting His Ancestry – Oladele Warns PDP

A leading All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Kayode Oladele, has fired a strong warning at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that desperate attempts to turn the ancestry of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (popularly known as Yayi) into a campaign issue will not erase his record or stop his rising acceptance across Ogun State ahead of the 2027 governorship election.

In a hard-hitting statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta on Friday, Oladele accused the opposition of resorting to recycled questions about Adeola’s roots simply because it has failed to mount any serious political challenge based on performance, experience or ideas.

“Questioning Yayi’s ancestry has become a worn-out political cliché and the last refuge of an opposition that has run out of ideas,” Oladele declared. “You cannot defeat a man’s record by rewriting his ancestry, and you cannot erase performance with propaganda.”

The APC leader challenged Adeola’s opponents to stop “fabricating tales by moonlight” and instead present concrete alternative policies and programmes for the people of Ogun State. “If Yayi’s opponents have something better to offer Ogun State, let them put it on the table. But if their only response to his projects, experience, capacity and growing acceptance is to keep fabricating tales about his ancestry, then they have already conceded the real argument,” he said.

Oladele was emphatic that Adeola’s identity and constitutional eligibility are not subjects for political opponents to decide. “Let me be very clear: Yayi is a Yewa man. Beyond that, he is a Nigerian citizen who is constitutionally qualified to contest the governorship of Ogun State.

“Section 177 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, sets out the qualifications for election as governor. Ancestral origin from a particular part of a state is not one of them. You cannot manufacture an additional constitutional requirement simply because you are afraid of an opponent’s political strength.”

The controversy over Adeola’s roots is not new. Political opponents have for years questioned his claims, with some recently going as far as alleging Ekiti origins or casting doubt on both his paternal ties to Ago-Ishaga/Pahayi in Ilaro (Yewa South) and maternal links to Kemta in Abeokuta. Traditional rulers and community leaders in both Yewaland and Egbaland have, however, repeatedly affirmed him as their son.

The Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, as well as the Alake of Egbaland and chiefs from Kemta, have publicly recognised his lineage and traditional titles, including Aremo of Yewaland.

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Oladele argued that the 2027 contest should be fought on records, ideas and vision rather than endless arguments over family trees. He noted that Adeola’s message centres on the everyday concerns of Ogun people — roads, education, healthcare, empowerment schemes, infrastructure and economic opportunities — while his critics remain stuck on ancestry.

“Adeola is talking about roads, education, healthcare, empowerment, infrastructure and economic opportunities. His opponents are talking about ancestry. That contrast is telling: one is presenting what he has done and what he intends to do, while the other is gasping for breath and searching for a distraction.”

He turned the spotlight back on the PDP, saying every attempt to reduce the election to questions about Adeola’s background only highlights the opposition’s own emptiness. “The tragedy for the PDP is that every attempt to reduce this election to Adeola’s ancestry only draws greater attention to the question the party desperately wants to avoid: what does the PDP itself bring to the table?

“Ogun people cannot be persuaded by endless fabrication about one candidate’s ancestry when those making the attacks have failed to present a more compelling record or a superior blueprint for the state.”

Oladele stressed that politics must ultimately be judged by results that improve lives. “A family tree will not repair a road, equip a hospital, educate a child, create employment or put food on anybody’s table. The people want to know who has the capacity to deliver. That is the terrain on which this election should be fought.”

He issued a direct challenge: “My challenge to the PDP is simple: bring your record to the table. Let us compare performance with performance, capacity with capacity, projects with projects and vision with vision. If you cannot match Adeola on performance, challenge him on competence or offer Ogun people a superior vision, then stop fabricating tales about his ancestry.

“Elections are won by earning the confidence of the people, not by rewriting another man’s family history.”

Oladele concluded that the 2027 verdict will rest with the electorate. “Ultimately, in 2027, Ogun people will choose between records, not rumours; between performance and propaganda; and between a vision for the future and tales by moonlight.”