By Segun Olatunji
Hold the front page! Clear the schedules! Ogun State has officially birthed a new genre of political comedy, and honestly, a combination of Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood could never. It is an absolute privilege to witness the sheer, unadulterated performance art that is the latest essay circulating the web, entitled, “Ogun 2027: Sub-Judice Ethics and the Video Tape Test for Yayi’s Team.”
It is truly a marvel of modern fiction to read the latest masterpiece of legal righteousness and media hand-wringing directed at Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, affectionately known nationwide as Yayi.
In this magnificent piece of theatrical weeping, some deeply stressed souls are practically hyperventilating over Senator Adeola, the legendary Yayi and his media team, led by veteran journalist, High Chief Kayode Odunaro. The crime? Stating obvious facts on live radio. The horror! The audacity! How dare Yayi’s team use pesky things like “reality” when Hon. Abayomi Semako Hunye—or as he is quickly becoming known from Yewa to Remo, “His Excellency, the Ghost Candidate”—is trying to have a main-character moment?
Let’s take a collective moment to appreciate the comedy gold that is the campaign of “The Courtroom Governor.” He is currently strutting around Ogun State, draped in imaginary laurels, masquerading as the APC governorship candidate for 2027. There is just one teeny-weeny, entirely insignificant, totally hilarious problem: the APC never actually gave Hunye the ticket.
But why let a minor detail like “not winning the primary” ruin a perfectly good outfit? Instead of accepting that the party ticket just wasn’t into him, “The Phantom Flagbearer” and his band of merry myth-makers—let’s call them “The Tape-Measure Tribunal” — wrapped tightly in the flag of grievance, have decided to cling to a Federal High Court docket (Abayomi Semako Hunye v. APC & 2 Ors) like a toddler holding a security blanket. He believes a legal docket can magically transform zero votes into a popular mandate. The lawsuit has been adjourned to November 18, 2026, which means we get more days of watching a man campaign for an office using a legal brief instead of a manifesto. They are hoping a judge will climb to the top of Olumo Rock and proclaim Hunye the winner to an empty city.
The writers of this grievance press release are profoundly triggered because Chief Odunaro mentioned a “zero-vote” outcome on air. Their response? The Cassette Campaigners have dramatically challenged Yayi’s team to a “Video Tape Test.” They want the full, unedited radio tapes released immediately!
You truly have to marvel at the logic of The Soundtrack Syndicate. When you lack the backing of the party hierarchy, have zero structures, and can’t find any delegates between the Gateway International Stadium and the borders of Ilaro who remember your name, you demand a rerun of a radio interview. It’s the political equivalent of losing a football match 10-0 at the MKO Abiola Stadium and demanding a VAR review on the stadium commentator’s pronunciation of your name. “Look at the tape! He called my name wrongly! Red card!”
The essay then pivots to a masterclass in hypocrisy, pulling out big, expensive words like “sub-judice” and accusing Yayi’s camp of trying the case in the “court of public opinion.” The sheer irony is delicious. The Litigation Lovers literally wrote a multi-paragraph, publicly distributed press release to complain about the existence of press releases! The Ink-Stained Injunction Squad is begging Yayi’s team to “put down the pens” while furiously draining their own ink cartridges. They claim Yayi’s team is full of “profound anxiety and desperation,” which is classic psychological projection. If Yayi is anxious with his ocean of supporters stretching from Abeokuta to Ijebu-Ode, The Ghost Candidate must be navigating his campaign in a submarine under the Oyan River Dam.
Let’s face it: the “zero-vote” narrative doesn’t just hurt; it stings because it reminds everyone of the cosmological distance between a political heavyweight and someone chasing shadows across the Yewa landscape.
Senator Yayi doesn’t need to litigate his popularity in a courtroom because his achievements in Ogun State are so massive they have their own gravitational pull. While his detractors are busy filing motions, Yayi has been busy building things that actually exist in the physical world. Let’s look at the scorecard:
• The Road Infrastructure Magician: Yayi has facilitated the construction of actual, asphalt-paved roads connecting rural farmers from Tata to Eggua and down to Ota to economic markets, while The Briefcase Brigade struggles to navigate the hallway to the judge’s chambers.
• The Great Empowerer: He has launched mega-empowerment schemes, handing out actual financial grants, ICT tools, and business equipment to thousands of Ogun youths and women from Aiyetoro to Imeko. Meanwhile, The Phantom Candidate’s primary empowerment project is keeping his lawyers gainfully employed.
• The Education Champion: From building state-of-the-art blocks of classrooms across Ogun West and beyond to distributing thousands of scholarships and bursaries to indigent students, Yayi is making sure the next generation can actually read the laws his opponents are hiding behind.
• The Healthcare Saviour: Upgrading primary healthcare centres and sponsoring massive free medical outreaches that serve thousands of people—because unlike his rivals, Yayi prefers healing communities to giving them political headaches.
Yayi’s political capital wasn’t manufactured by an “independent media crew” filming a small crowd of paid cheerleaders in a corner of Ipokia. It is written on the literal terrain of Ogun State.
In sharp contrast, The Mirror-Work Maestro’s primary achievement this political season appears to be advanced delusion. He is standing in front of a glass, practising his “Your Excellency” wave, and praying that a judge will hand him a governorship ticket that the actual APC members overwhelmingly refused to give him. It’s a bold strategy. Let’s see if it pays off.
The press release grandly signs off by declaring that “no amount of political war chests… can buy the conscience of true Ogun indigenes.” Absolutely correct! The conscience of Ogun indigenes cannot be bought, which is precisely why they are lining up behind a man who builds classrooms and transforms communities, not a man who piles up court files for frivolous legal battles.
So, to The VHS Visionaries and the orchestrators of the grand “Video Tape Test”: thank you for providing the finest comedy of the pre-election season. While you count down the days to November 18, 2026, hoping for a judicial miracle, Yayi’s team will probably keep talking about development, infrastructure, and actual governance. Keep your tapes, Team Phantom; Yayi will keep the state. Yayi ni, Yayi ni jo!
. Olatunji, Journalist, Political/Crises Communication Strategist, writes from Ilaro, Ogun State
