• Says Ogun guber poll not ‘all-comers affair’

By Our Reporter 

The battle over who succeeds Governor Dapo Abiodun in 2027 has taken a new turn as former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, reopened the debate on the ancestry of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2027 election in Ogun State, Solomon Adeola, known as Yayi.

Speaking on a live television programme, the former ambassador, who was a Commissioner for Women Affairs in the state, said there was documentary evidence to prove her point.

“Senator Olamilekan is not from Yewa. He is not from Yewa. It saddens me as a mother, as a politician, as a Nigerian that people will come out and tell blatant lies because they want a particular thing,” Marcus-Bello stated emphatically.

She said the issue was central to the 2027 contest because, according to her, the Yewa people deserve the governorship but must be represented by a “genuine son or daughter of the soil.”

“If what you have stated is true, Yewa has a better chance to produce a governor because they have never produced one,” she said, adding, “But give us — and I am speaking authoritatively also on behalf of Hon. Ladi Adebutu — a real son or daughter of Yewa and we will support that daughter or son of Yewa. Let us get it clear,” she said.

The former diplomat challenged Adeola to a public confrontation, saying she was in possession of documents that contradict his claim.

“Let him come and sit in front of me. We would bring the documentation that I have — the programme of events of his father’s burial in Ekiti State with his Oriki and his progeny,” she said.

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

Marcus-Bello noted that Adeola’s political career began and flourished in Lagos before he “moved his ambition” to Ogun West.

She also referenced his father’s background and the burial of his mother in Epe as evidence that his roots “lie outside Yewa.”

However, these claims were presented as part of her argument during the programme and were not independently verified.

According to the former Commissioner, the controversy goes beyond personal politics because indigene status matters for Ogun’s peculiar politics.

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

“Ogun State is peculiar. We are semi-rural. We are not Lagos where people come and claim all sorts of things.”

Marcus-Bello further accused the APC of abusing power and referred to what she called “a book containing allegations” against Adeola, urging his camp to respond.

As the 2027 governorship race gathers momentum, the question of origin has become one major talking point in Ogun politics as indigenes insist “strangers” won’t rule over them.