By Heritage Odih, Abeokuta
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has struck out the response of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Ladi Adebutu, touching on vote buying allegation against Governor Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The three – man panel chaired by Hamidu Kunaza on Monday struck out Adebutu’s allegation of vote – buying on the grounds that the new facts he sought to introduce were not part of the petition earlier filed.
Adebutu had approached the Tribunal to challenge the declaration of Governor Dapo Abiodun and the APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) as winner of the 18, March 2023 governorship election in the state.
But the Governor’s defense team led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in the response to the petition, alleged that Adebutu and the PDP engaged in vote buying during the elections.
They also relied on police investigation which indicted Mr Adebutu of alleged vote buying with the sum of N2 billion naira through an ATM card preloaded with N10,000 each to back their response to the Adebutu’s Petition.
On 22 May, 2023, Adebutu and the PDP filed a reply to the defence by Governor Abiodun and the APC, also brought vote buying allegation against the ruling party, APC.
In the last adjourned date, June 13, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, one of the counsel to Dapo Abiodun had accused the PDP and it’s candidate, Ladi Adebutu of vote buying in one of its motion, prompting Goddy Uche, counsel of the petitioner to also accuse the APC and its candidate of vote buying.
Mr Uche argued that Mr Abiodun who is the second respondent, should not be responding wrongly as the issues of vote buying was not raised initially in the petition before the tribunal.
Mr Uche argued further that with the vote buying allegation appearing in parts of Abiodun’s preliminary objection, he was however, compelled to also respond that the APC and the second respondent(Dapo Abiodun) were the ones actually responsible for the alleged vote buying.
However, Osipitan, from the point of law, faulted Mr Uche’s position, arguing that the PDP cannot inject any further allegation into its petition midstream and asked the court to reject such attempt as it would amount to an “expansion of the PDP petition.”
Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), asked the Tribunal to strike out the Reply in its entirety or in the alternative, to strike out offending paragraphs from that Reply.
Osipitan had argued that the Reply filed by Adebutu and PDP contravenes paragraph 16(1) (a & b) of the Electoral Act and the rules of court pleadings.
The matter was therefore adjourned to June 19 for ruling.
And ruling on the matter on Monday,
the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Hamidu N. Kunaza, agreed with the submissions by Prof. Osipitan and struck out Adebutu’s Reply bordering on vote buying allegation against Abiodun and APC.
The Tribunal noted that in their petition, Adebutu and PDP alleged that Governor Abiodun and APC committed corrupt practices during the governorship elections, noting that vote buying is a specie of corruption and that if PDP and Adebutu truly believed that APC engaged in vote buying, the petitioner ought to have incorporated those allegations in their initial petition from the start, which they did not do.
The ruling was supported by the other two members; Hon. Justice J.B. Egele and Hon. Justice Sannusi Shehu.
During the ruling on Monday, Jelili Owonikoko (SAN), represented INEC, while the APC team was led by Chief Onyeazu Ikpeazu (SAN).
Reacting to the Ruling, one of lawyers on the legal team of Dapo Abiodun and APC, Deji Enisein, said, “The summary is that the Tribunal agreed with the second respondent who is governor Dapo Abiodun that the petitioner cannot bring in new facts after they had already filed their petition.
“The petitioner tried to come in with new facts to assist them in prosecuting their case against the second respondent. When we were served, it was clearly and thoroughly examined and we are of the view that their reply is not a reply at all. It was a means to further present new facts before the election petition Tribunal. The Tribunal agreed with us that those new facts ought not to come at this time.”
Also reacting, Odumuyiwa Obanewa, one of the lead Counsel to Ladi Adebutu, said they would study the Ruling and if necessary, appeal it.
