The fight for Dapo Abiodun’s seat in 2027 just got personal.
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia and Malawi, Folake Marcus-Bello, has thrown down the gauntlet to APC governorship hopeful, Senator Solomon Adeola aka “Yayi”, challenging him to a public debate over his state of origin.
Speaking on a live TV programme, Marcus-Bello, ex-Commissioner for Women Affairs in Ogun, insisted Adeola is not from Yewaland.
“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,” she said.
She claimed to have documents backing her position and dared Adeola to face her.
“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. His Oriki is in his father’s burial programme. Let him come and prove otherwise,” she added.
Adeola did not take it lightly. Through his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro, the senator threatened legal action against Marcus-Bello and Hon. Abayomi Hunye, a suspended APC member from Ipokia.
He accused them of making “libelous” and “outrageous lies” about his origin and his family on national television.
“I watched in utter disbelief as these characters that I hardly know utter assertive and outrageous lies about my origin without any proof,” Adeola said.
He gave both of them 24 hours to produce evidence or face lawsuits. He also knocked Marcus-Bello for allegedly lying about the burial locations of his parents.
“The other one was lying about the locations of the graves of my parents as if she was part of the undertakers at the burial all in a futile effort to justify an unsustainable falsehood. Enough is enough,” he said.
Marcus-Bello argued that the 2027 election should produce a “genuine son or daughter of Yewa soil” because the zone has never produced a governor.
“If what you have stated is true, Yewa has a better chance to produce a governor because they have never produced one. 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,” she said.
Hunye is from Tube, Ipokia LGA. Marcus-Bello is PDP.