By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
The frosty relationship between the 2023 governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, and Governor Dapo Abiodun took a dizzying dimension on Wednesday with the Adebutu reminding the governor that the immunity he is enjoying today will not be there forever.
Adebutu warned that sooner or later, people lose their immunity and afterwards, they would be held accountable to Nigerians.
He alleged that Abiodun’s administration had received at least N214bn meant for the 20 local governments in the state without any development at the grassroots to show for it.
The federal lawmaker who was released on Tuesday after spending a night in the custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, saiid that his quest for accountability and quality governance at the grassroots was the reason Abiodun had allegedly been using the security agencies to harass and silence him.
Adebutu said, “They have been pursuing me and want to silence me because they are embezzling local government funds. They don’t want the theft of our resources to stop.
“At least in the last five years, the 20 local governments in the state have received no less than N214bn, but there is nothing to show for it. They can’t even cut the grass in the local governments.
“In the past, under the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the local governments were involved in the construction of rural roads, drainages, motor parks, markets, rural electrification, and much more, but that is now a thing of the past.”
He said the way Governor Abiodun was going about trampling on democracy and people’s rights in Ogun State, it would soon begin to rub off negatively on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government at the centre, even as he urged the President to rein in Abiodun before it is too late.
“If under a Yoruba presidency, the President will sit back and watch his people being beaten and maimed because they want to exercise their franchise and vote for the candidates of their choice, it will be very sad. The truth is that the governor is destroying whatever goodwill is left of the APC in the Southwest,” Adebutu said.
Recalling what transpired on Saturday, November 16, 2024 during the local government elections in the state, he maintained that took place was a sham and a charade.
He claimed that over 4,000 polling units out of over 5,000 polling units were deprived of voting materials, adding that Governor Abiodun mobilised soldiers from Ibadan to attack opposition members, including Ogun Assembly Minority Leader and his aides, subjecting them to terror.
“Who are these soldiers that came from Ibadan, and on whose orders? Who are the people who shot at one of the policemen assigned to me since December 2022, just to ensure my safety? The police officer is still critically ill at OOUTH?,” he queried .
But the Ogun State government, has described the allegation leveled against Governor Dapo Abiodun by Adebutu as the ranting of a drowning man, claiming that the governor could not account for local government funds in the last five years.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Hon Kayode Akinmade, the Ogun State government said it was not surprised by the antics of the PDP chieftain, who it noted is currently under investigation by security agencies for acts of electoral violence and attempted murder, as he has acquired notoriety over the years for making baseless and empty claims that call his sanity into question.
The statement added that Adebutu has become like a wounded lion who is trying to save face after his recent travail at the hands of security agents over his electoral malfeasance on Saturday.
The statement said: “We do not find it shocking that a man who aspired to govern Ogun State but was roundly rejected by voters would claim that a governor who is not a signatory to local government accounts squandered council funds amounting to N214 billion in five years.
“That means, conceptually, that the said local governments did not pay any salaries and did not execute any projects in those five years, and it says a lot about a governorship candidate whose own running mate described him as a complete disaster.
“If Ladi Adebutu, a child in an adult body, knows anything at all about the art of governance, let alone the activities of the Ogun State Government under Prince Dapo Abiodun, he would not be making such flippant, hollow, and jejune accusations.
“The fact is that at no time did Governor Abiodun touch a dime of LG funds in Ogun State, but Adebutu has to entertain his crowd.
“It has become quite characteristic of this devious character to lie against Governor Abiodun with satanic fervor any time he is called upon to account for his rich biography of crimes.
“For instance, the fact is well known that apart from his recent case, he is standing trial for vote buying and conspiracy, and was a fugitive in a foreign land for months before returning home to utter ignominy.
“Ladi Adebutu is a drowning clown who believes that he can achieve through rabble-rousing and blackmail what he couldn’t achieve through the electoral and court processes, where he failed in his desperate and ruinous bid to unseat a popular democratically elected governor.
“He is a man adept at accusations and name-calling but a complete failure where enterprise, dignity, and discipline are called for. He is desperate to be relevant and in the news at all costs, and those taking him seriously need evaluation, just like he himself needs mental evaluation.
“Accused of sending thugs to snatch ballots during the local council polls on Saturday, Adebutu, in the video doing the rounds, openly said that he doesn’t mind violent change.
“He is a sinking ship looking for someone to drag along to hell with him and should be completely ignored by right-thinking people.”
