The controversy over the identity and ancestry of Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has taken a fresh turn, with his media aide explaining how the APC governorship candidate got his present name.
Adeola’s aide, Kayode Odunaro, said the senator was formerly known as Sulaimon Ogunleye but adopted the name Solomon Adeola after converting from Islam to Christianity.
Odunaro made the clarification while responding to questions surrounding Adeola’s identity ahead of the 2027 Ogun State governorship election.
The explanation comes amid renewed claims by some of Adeola’s political opponents that the senator is originally from Ekiti State and only began laying claim to Ogun ancestry after becoming politically active in the state.
The controversy was recently stirred by former Ijebu East Local Government chairman, Wale Adedayo, who alleged that Adeola was originally Sulaimon Ogunleye from Ekiti.
Adeola rejected the claim and challenged those making the allegation to produce evidence, threatening legal action against anyone unable to substantiate the allegation.
But while defending his principal, Odunaro offered a different explanation for the change in name, saying it was connected to Adeola’s religious conversion and happened long before his political career.
He said: “Many people at some point in life have had cause to change their names. Even the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, once changed his name. His original name wasn’t Atiku Abubakar.
“So, that is not an issue, and the senator has changed his name since he was at The Guardian. He was Sulaimon Ogunleye, but changing his religion from Islam to Christianity made him change his name.
“Solomon is the biblical name for Sulaimon. His father’s name is Ogunleye and Adeola. He only chose Adeola as his surname.”
The explanation effectively confirms that the name Sulaimon Ogunleye was associated with Adeola before he became widely known as Solomon Adeola, but his aide disputes the suggestion that the change was designed to conceal his identity.
Adeola’s publicly available biography states that he was born in Lagos in 1969 to Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye and grew up in Alimosho. His official biography also identifies his parents by those names.
The senator has, however, become embroiled in a separate and more politically charged argument over his state of origin.
Opponents have alleged that he is an Ekiti indigene rather than an Ogun indigene. The issue has been raised by different political figures in recent months, including Abayomi Hunye, Folake Marcus-Bello and Adedayo.
The allegations have drawn counterclaims from people close to the senator.
His stepmother, Aminatu Abiola, publicly rejected the Ekiti claim, insisting that neither Adeola’s father nor mother was from Ekiti. She also stated that although she herself hailed from Iworoko in Ekiti, the senator was not related to Ekiti through his parents.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, also defended Adeola’s Ogun ancestry, saying on Channels Television that the senator was an indigene of Ogun State from both his paternal and maternal sides. Salako said Adeola’s father was from Paayi near Ilaro, while Adeola himself was born and raised in Lagos.
Adeola’s political journey has largely been built around Lagos, where he represented Alimosho at the Lagos State House of Assembly and later represented Lagos West in the Senate.
In 2023, he moved into Ogun politics and won the Ogun West senatorial seat. He is now the APC’s candidate for the 2027 governorship election.
The dispute over his ancestry has therefore become one of the early flashpoints of the 2027 Ogun governorship contest, with opponents questioning his roots and his supporters producing family accounts to establish his Ogun connection.
For now, the name-change issue has received an explanation from Adeola’s camp: according to his aide, Sulaimon Ogunleye became Solomon Adeola following his conversion from Islam to Christianity, while the separate allegation that he is originally from Ekiti remains disputed by both sides.
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