By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
A disturbing dimension has crept into the dispute – ridden March 18 governorship election in Ogun State with the latest police report indicting the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and governor Dapo Abiodun of involvement in alleged electoral violence and ballot box snatching during the exercise.
In a report dated Wednesday, August 2, the police fingered APC and Abiodun in connection with breach of the electoral act 2022.
The Daily Crucible reports that in the on – going Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Justice Hamidu Kunaza – led 3 – man panel was told that the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, allegedly engaged in electoral malpractice bordering on vote buying.
And in one of the recent hearings of the matter by the panel, an official of the Zenith Bank, Mrs Celestina Appeal, appeared in relation to the allegation of vote buying through preloaded ATM cards brought against the PDP) and Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu.
Appeal who identified herself as the Head of Card Services of the bank was subpoenaed to supply what she knew about the preloaded ATM cards connected to Adebutu.
This followed the notice by Counsel to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, who had earlier informed the panel that two letters were submitted to the bank in February, seeking clarification on how Adebutu opened a special account with the bank as well as the request he made for issuance of 200,000 preloaded ATM cards containing N10, 000 each, some days before the March 18 gubernatorial election.
In response, the Zenith Bank official presented her evidence by submitting the certified true copy of a letter written to the Bank by Oladipupo Adebutu dated 27th February 2023, two days after the Presidential Election which the PDP lost, requesting to open an account for the production of 200,000 ATM verve cards containing N10,000 each and totalling N2Billion naira.
She also presented another certified true copy of a letter written by Adebutu and addressed to the Bank dated the same 27th February 2023, requesting for the issuance of the 200, 000 ATM verve cards.
Also, she tendered record of delivery of and collection of the prepaid ATM cards to Adebutu, and the sample of the card, including statement of account opened in the name of Oladipupo Adebutu, which indicates inflow and outflow of the account from February to May 2023, and Certificate of Compliance.
And they were admitted in evidence, including the statement of account of Ladi Adebutu at Zenith Bank and a report of the bank on the production of 200,000 units of top-up ATM cards.
The tribunal, in it’s ruling accepted the copy of the subpoenae and marked it as exhibit RA5, also the letter tendered by the bank official, requesting for ATM by Adebutu was admitted as exhibit RA6.
In the same vein, letter of deposit of N2 billion was marked as exhibit RA7.
But fighting back and harder, the PDP and Adebutu petitioned the Inspector General of Police to investigate Abiodun and APC for alleged vote buying, electoral violence and voters’ intimidation during the March 18 governorship election.
Earlier, Adebutu had also kicked against the declaration of Abiodun as the winner of the governorship poll shortly after the announcement was made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Adebutu who happened to be the main challenger to APC’s Governor Dapo Abiodun, condemned the cancellation of results in 54 polling units spreads across Remo North, Sagamu, Ifo, Abeokuta South, Egbado South and Ado/Odo/Ota local governments areas by the INEC, describing it at the time as “disenfranchising of the electorate” in his political strongholds.
The former federal lawmaker who spoke then through the party agent, Mr Oyejide Sunkanmi, called on the Commission to investigate the cancellations and directs a rerun in the affected places.
He said the call for a rerun was a legitimate demand, citing the electoral Act section 24 subsection 3 which provides that a rerun should be ordered where alleged violence hindered the electorate, electoral officials and materials from being freely deployed for the purpose of election.
According to him, if the total number of cancelled votes was far higher than the margin of lead or winning between the winner and the first runner up, a rerun becomes advisable in the affected units.
And not content with just complaining on the day Abiodun was declared winner, Adebutu and his party also approached the Tribunal with a Petition to challenge the declaration, praying the Tribunal to upturn it.
Be took further steps against the Governor who is his kinsman by writing a petition to the Inspector General of Police, urging the Police boss to cause an investigation to be conducted on Abiodun and APC over alleged vote buying, electoral violence and voters’ intimidation during the March 18 governorship election.
PDP and Adebutu accused Abiodun of soending money from the lean State fund on some electorate and people suspected to be political thugs to sway votes to his favour.
The police in its report after the investigation indicated that it arrested some of the suspected thugs allegedly enlisted by the APC to instigate chaos ostensibly to disrupt elections at polling units where the party was not shinning.
The police in the 35-page report, titled: “Police Investigation Report on Case of Breach of Electoral Act 2022 Through Vote Buying, Snatching And Destruction of Ballot Papers and Boxes, Thuggery And Causing Harm To Voters In Ogun State” said, the suspects confessed to their roles in the disruption of the election.
One of the suspected thugs, identified as Sanu Jamiu, according to the report, confessed to the police that, he and 15 others were engaged by one Efuje, an ally of governor Abiodun from Iperu-Remo area of the State to cause mayhem during the election.
The report further indicated that Jamiu and his gangs were paid N50,000 to disrupt the election.
The police also arrested another suspect, identified as Seun Samuel who also confessed that he was hired by Hon. Damilola Kayode Soneye representing Obafemi Owode Federal constituency to work for APC as a ballot box snatcher during the governorship election.
The police report quoted Jamiu saying: “In the month of February, 2023, one EFUJE a.k.a Alhaji who was once a councilor in ward 5, Iperu-Remo and an APC member, invited him to work as a political thug for Prince (DR) Dapo Abiodun for the period of election and promised a handsome compensation. In addition, he states that he was in a group of about sixteen thugs contracted by the said EFUJE and they were all given fifty thousand naira (#50,000:00k) to share before the presidential elections when he first met with EFUJE.
“The group of 16 was led by one Kehinde a.k.a ALARA. During the 2023 presidential elections, Efuje, on behalf of Governor Dapo Abiodun instructed the thugs that each polling nit should be manned by three thugs such that there will be no incidence of ballot box snatching.
“However, on 18th March 2023, during the Gubernatorial elections, Efuje called at about 7am and instructed the thugs to move around all the polling units and observe the trend of elections.
“At about 3pm of same day, Efuje called back stating that the PDP was winning elections at St. John primary school ward 5 and instructed that they should move there and cause mayhem, snatch the ballot boxes and destroy them which they did immediately.
“He states that they arrived the aforementioned polling unit on motorcycle, caused violence, snatched the ballot box and took it to Ansarudeen primary school, Powerline area of Iperu-Remo where they emptied the ballot papers from the box and also destroyed the ballot box before they left.
“Lastly, Sanu Jamiu states clearly that he knows that Efuje takes directives directly from Governor Dapo Abiodun before passing same to the thugs to act”, the report quoted Jamiu to have said.
However, the report quoted the APC Chairman to have denied allegations of violence, saying he did not know any of the thugs mentioned in the petition.
“Being the Chairman of the party and also mentioned in the petition, he stated that having perused the petition against his person, he doesn’t know anything about the allegations leveled against him by the petitioner. That he voted at Alagbaa village, Orile-ilugun, Odeda local Government Area where he did not give anyone money, there was no ballot box snatching nor were there crises in all the local governments,” it quoted Sanusi as saying.
On alleged vote-buying, the report said “The APC presented witnesses and beneficiaries who received the top-up cards prior to the 2023 General elections as part of the Social Investment Programme, thereby confirming that the top-up cards were utilised for the Ogun State Social Investment program, the PDP in its own strength as well, presented witnesses who claimed that the top-up cards were given to them to canvass for their votes.”
The worries on the minds of the people of Ogun State and particularly the political gladiators as well as keen watchers of the unfolding events between PDP’s Adebutu and Governor Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) centred on where all these back and forth allegations will definitely lead to. Will it be to the advantage of Ladi Adebutu and PDP or Dapo Abiodun and the ruling APC in the state? And what will be the final outcome as the Tribunal progresses with the Petition before it? Who wins ? Who loses at the end of the day? The answers to these and other posers, according to one of the watchers, are hidden in the womb of time. And the time clock is ticking.
