The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State on Friday disowned former governorship aspiran, Abayomi Hunye, who is challenging the candidacy of the party’s flag bearer, Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.
Hunye last weekend stirred controversy when he declared that he remained in the 2027 governorship race and unveiled his running mate.
The former commissioner also faulted the party’s governorship primary that produced Adeola as its candidate.
At the governorship primary held in May, the APC declared Yayi the winner.
The Chairman of the Ogun State Governorship Electoral Committee, Wale Ohu, announced that Adeola secured 304,055 votes out of the 305,287 accredited voters who participated in the exercise.
Ohu said Adeola’s only challenger, Abayomi Samako Hunye, polled no votes in the primary conducted across the state’s 20 local government areas.
Hunye subsequently dragged the party and Yayi to court, seeking to nullify the primary over alleged widespread irregularities and the disenfranchisement of his supporters after he was allocated zero votes.
Speaking at the APC secretariat in Ipokia, headquarters of Ipokia LGA, party leaders and elected officials from all 12 wards in the council, including a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Bisi Oyedele (Citiside), disowned Hunye as a party member, saying he remained suspended.
Hunye hails from Tube Ward in Ipokia Local Government Area.
Addressing journalists at the meeting, the APC Chairman in the council, Wasiu Onikoyi Agbetokun, said the party had disassociated itself from Hunye, stating that “without equivocation, his actions, utterances, and recent antics do not, in any way, represent the position of the APC in Ipokia Local Government, nor do they reflect the collective will of our members.”
Agbetokun declared that Hunye had ceased to be an APC member because he had been suspended for alleged anti-party activities.
“Disciplinary action, according to the Constitution of our party, is procedural. It begins from the Ward, to the Local Government, to the State, and then to the National level. This implies that Mr. Hunye’s argument of obtaining nomination forms after his suspension is misplaced and further exposes his ignorance of the Constitution of our party.
“To underscore this point, even a candidate or a sitting governor can be suspended from the party if he violates any provision of the Constitution of our party. It follows, therefore, that the mere fact that Hunye obtained nomination forms does not in any way insulate him from the disciplinary action of the party. No one, regardless of office or ambition, is above the party’s constitution and disciplinary framework,” he said.
Agbetokun said Hunye had never enjoyed “an atom of support” from Tube Ward or Ipokia Local Government at any point in his political trajectory.
“His stock in trade is to purchase nomination forms at every election cycle, not to contest a free and fair primary, but solely as a means of negotiation for political appointments,” he said.
Agbetokun reaffirmed the party leadership in Ipokia Local Government’s support for Yayi’s candidacy ahead of the 2027 election.
“Our party and its members have consistently maintained unified and unwavering support for the candidature of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, fondly called YAYI, as the gubernatorial candidate of our great party.
“We firmly believe in his vision and leadership. His record of infrastructural development and human capital empowerment in all facets of governance is unprecedented and legendary.
“We are convinced that his acceptance across Ogun State gives genuine hope that Yewa land will finally break the jinx, after 50 years of the creation of Ogun State, and produce a governor who will prioritise the welfare of our people,” Agbetokun said.
Also addressing the gathering, Oyedele, who represents Ipokia/Idiroko Constituency, alleged that Hunye was being sponsored to scuttle Ogun West’s chances of producing a governor ahead of the 2027 election.
He expressed concern that Hunye had allegedly turned himself into a tool to be used against the region’s agitation to produce a governor for the first time since the creation of the state 50 years ago.
Putting the question to the party leaders and executives, the lawmaker, who is seeking re-election in 2027, declared that Hunye had been disowned by the party in the state.
“There’s something that we should make abundantly clear here, and it is that Mr. Abayomi Hunye, we believe from this local government, has been sponsored against the agenda of Yewa/Awori people.
“We believe that he’s being sponsored against the agenda of Ogun West, and this nomenclature has suffered for over 50 years because we have never tasted the seat of governorship.
“And I want to say this: his sponsorship, we know where it’s coming from. We know where they are sponsoring him, giving him money to deface our candidate, Senator Solomon Adeola, Yayi.
“We have disowned him. We don’t know Mr. Abayomi Hunye any longer. Are we all in support?
“So, for this local government, just like the question said, moving forward, what do we want to do? The question has been answered by our own leader that we, as a party in Ipokia Local Government, have disowned Mr. Abayomi Hunye,” Oyedele said.
