Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, has challenged the All Progressives Congress candidate, Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, to take him to court over the ongoing controversy surrounding Adeola’s ancestry.
Adebutu issued the challenge on Wednesday at a PDP campaign rally in Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state.
The controversy followed Adeola’s threat on Tuesday to institute legal proceedings against PDP chieftain, Folake Marcus-Bello, and a suspended APC member, Abayomi Hunye, over claims that he is originally from Ekiti State.
Adeola had given the duo 24 hours to produce evidence backing their claims or face legal action, describing the allegations as false and libellous.
Reacting to the threat, Adebutu said he was prepared to defend his position in court, insisting that he had documentary evidence to support his claims.
“I am daring their lawyers to sue me. I am waiting for their lawyer to also sue me so that we can go and present all our documents in the court of law,” he said.
Adebutu questioned the varying accounts about Adeola’s ancestry, saying, “They first claimed that they are from Joga; later they said Ishaga, Ilaro and all that. I am waiting for their lawyer to write to me so that we can show the whole world the truth.”
Adebutu also defended his own Ogun State roots, saying his mother hailed from Odogbolu while his father, Sir Kensington Adebutu, was from Iperu.
He said, “I am a bona fide indigene of Ogun State. My mother is from here in Odogbolu, and my father, Sir Kensington Adebutu, is from Iperu, so no controversy about where I came from.”
The PDP candidate further accused the state government of restricting his party’s campaign activities, alleging that officials had prevented the party from erecting campaign billboards while some of its posters had been removed or defaced.
He claimed that the PDP had initially planned to hold its campaign rally in Idowa but was forced to relocate the event to Odogbolu.
Adebutu said the alleged restrictions would not deter the party from taking its campaign to different parts of the state.
He also alleged that his campaign convoy came under gunfire during the campaign activities.
The APC, however, gave a different account of the incident, alleging that the shooting in Ososa involved security personnel attached to Adebutu.
In a statement on Thursday, the APC state Publicity Secretary, Femi Nuberu, called on the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, to investigate the incident.
Nuberu said the party was concerned about reports that security personnel attached to a governorship candidate allegedly discharged ammunition in Ososa, the hometown of the APC deputy governorship candidate, Kudirat Abiodun Adegunwa-Balogun.
He described the incident as capable of causing fear and tension among residents and urged the police to establish what happened and determine whether any law was breached.
The APC also called on Adebutu and his campaign team to exercise restraint and ensure that their activities did not result in fear, intimidation or disorder.
The party urged residents to remain calm and appealed to political parties, candidates and their supporters to conduct their campaigns within the law.
At the Odogbolu rally, Adebutu criticised the APC administration in the state and outlined some of the programmes he said a PDP government would pursue, including greater local government autonomy, payment of pensioners’ gratuities and access to workers’ cooperative savings.
The PDP deputy governorship candidate, Yemi Sowunmi-Kolapo, also appealed to voters to support the party in the 2027 governorship election.
John Obafemi, a former Remo North Local Government chairman and former state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, who recently defected from the APC to the PDP, similarly urged residents to back Adebutu.
Marcus-Bello, who attended the rally, maintained her position on the claims concerning Adeola’s ancestry and said she would provide further information in the coming weeks.
Efforts to obtain Adeola’s response to Adebutu’s latest comments were unsuccessful. Calls to his media aide, Kayode Odunaro, did not connect, while he had not responded to messages sent to his WhatsApp as of the time of filing the report.
Leave a Reply