•’N10,000 credit cards in name of Caroline Adebutu a philanthropic gesture’
Ogun State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Sunday Solarin, has confirmed that the party’s governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, owned the distributed pre-paid credit cards allegedly used to induce voters during the March 18 Governorship and House of Assembly elections.
Solarin, who made this confirmation in a live interview on a private television station, Silverbird Television, disclosed that the credits cards with inscription ‘Caroline Oladuni Adebutu Memorial Endowment Scheme’ and loaded with N10,000 each, were meant to empower the people.
Security agents, including police and operatives of National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), had at locations intercepted and seized hundreds of the pre-loaded credit cards from PDP agents along with hundreds of permanent voter cards (PVCs) on the election day.
The cards distributed across the polling booths in the 236 wards of the state were allegedly used to entice voters into voting for the PDP.
The election later went in favour of the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as he was declared victorious by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, Adebutu and his supporters cried foul, claiming the election was “won” by him.
On the other hand, the APC accused Adebutu of engaging in massive vote-buying, using credit cards designed in his late mother’s name.
But speaking during the television interview, which also featured the state APC Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, Solarin argued that the credit cards were not meant for vote-buying, but to empower the people.
He said Adebutu’s family is known for its philanthropic gestures, stressing the credit cards were given to the people as a form of financial empowerment in memory of the late Mrs. Adebutu.
Solarin, however, said he was not aware that party agents were arrested with the cards on the election day, insisting that INEC erred by declaring Governor Abiodun as the winner.
He said the “stolen mandate” would be reclaimed by Adebutu and the PDP at the Election Petitions Tribunal.
Solarin added: “Only mischief makers like Oladunjoye will read politics and elections into a purely empowerment scheme. Caroline Adebutu Foundation has been around and the foundation has been intervening in health care sector and other areas. Would you call that something done because of politics or elections? The card being talked about was used to empower the poor and vulnerable members of the society. As I speak to you, the same foundation is using the card to help the weak and poor during this period of religious events.”
Oladunjoye said the APC won “fair and square” despite the massive vote-buying and other electoral infractions engaged in by the opposition party.
Oladunjoye, who displayed one of the credit cards on the show, carpeted Solarin for being economical with the truth by feigning ignorance of the heinous electoral infractions committed by his party.
Advising Adebutu and the PDP to stop chasing the shadow, the APC spokesperson said Governor Abiodun was declared winner of the poll, having satisfied the constitutional requirement as stipulated in the Electoral Act.
He further lampooned Adebutu and the PDP for embarking on a “show of shame” by mobilising hoodlums to the INEC head office in the name of submitting a petition.