The internal crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a new turn on Friday as former governorship aspirant Abayomi Hunye approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking a judicial review of electoral documents previously submitted by Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.
In a suit filed against the lawmaker, Hunye is asking the court to examine Adeola’s past statutory declarations and nomination forms submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The goal, according to his legal team, is to determine the state of origin the senator declared in earlier elections.
Hunye’s media adviser, Femi Oyewole, disclosed the development in a statement issued in Lagos after a briefing by lead counsel Olamide Victor. Victor clarified that the case is not an attack on Adeola’s claim to Yewa ancestry.
“We are not challenging the indigeneity of Senator Olamilekan Adeola as a Yewa son. What we are bringing before the court is a matter of statutory integrity and constitutional compliance,” Victor said.
He added: “He has held public elective offices for over two decades. What state of origin did he declare under oath in his previous INEC nomination forms when he contested in Lagos State? Was it Ekiti State? Was it Lagos State? Any deliberate inconsistency in documents submitted under oath carries severe legal implications.”
Although the legal team did not release copies of the disputed documents at the briefing, Victor stated that certified true copies obtained from INEC records would be tendered as evidence during the trial.
The suit marks the latest chapter in the fierce contest between Hunye and Adeola for the APC governorship ticket ahead of the 2027 general election in Ogun State.
Responding to questions about his locus standi, Hunye stressed that he is not asking the court to declare him the party’s candidate. Instead, he wants the judiciary to scrutinise the nomination process and determine whether it complied with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.
“I am not asking the media or the public to declare me the candidate. I am asking the judiciary to look at the process, examine the facts under the Electoral Act, and allow the law to take its proper course,” he said.
Hunye also dismissed the Ogun APC State Working Committee’s claim that he was suspended on April 7, 2026, following a petition from his ward in Tube, Ipokia Local Government Area. He noted that the party accepted his ₦50 million expression of interest and nomination forms on April 28 — three weeks after the alleged suspension — and cleared him to participate in the primary.
“If I was genuinely suspended on April 7, why did the party accept my ₦50 million payment on April 28? Why was my application processed, and why was I cleared by the screening committee to contest the primary?” he queried.
Hunye contested the APC governorship primary held on May 21, which Adeola won with 304,055 votes out of 305,287 accredited voters. Hunye was credited with zero votes. He said he followed the party’s internal dispute-resolution mechanism by petitioning the APC Governorship Primary Appeal Committee, but received no response, prompting the court action.
He also rejected suggestions that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, is bankrolling the lawsuit, describing it as an independent effort aimed at promoting compliance with electoral laws and addressing perceived inconsistencies in the party’s nomination process.