The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State will not cease to amuse the populace with its seemingly innocuous drama bordering on the proceedings of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Once again, this week, the party went to town with another comedy of errors, celebrating a purported victory for its candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, in the Wednesday ruling of the Court of Appeal on the counter-accusation of vote-buying filed against Governor Dapo Abiodun.
For proper clarification, Adebutu is the one currently facing the charges of vote-buying, disruption of the electoral process, criminal conspiracy, money laundering, and other sundry allegations of manipulation at the Tribunal. For fear of the unknown, he is currently on self-exile in an undisclosed location abroad to escape the long arms of the law. While the hearing lasted, we watched with consternation how his lead counsel, Gordy Uche (SAN), fiercely struggled to defend his case before he eventually succumbed to the overwhelming evidence of electoral malfeasances allegedly committed during the governorship election, declaring that “he was handicapped.”
One of these damning testimonies was made by an official of Zenith Bank, Mrs. Celestina Appeal, the Head of Card Services of the bank, who presented evidence of 200,000 preloaded ATM cards meant for vote-buying to the tribunal. The startling revelation of the underhand deal followed an earlier submission of two letters written by counsel to Governor Abiodun, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), to Zenith Bank in February, seeking clarification on how Adebutu opened a special account for the purpose of his action with the bank as well as the request he made for the issuance of 200,000 preloaded ATM cards containing N10,000 each, some days before the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial election.
Put under cross-examination, not only did Ms Appeal present the certified true copy of a letter written to Zenith 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, totaling N2 billion, but also tendered the record of delivery of and collection of the prepaid ATM cards to Adebutu, and the sample of the card, including the statement of account opened in the name of Oladipupo Adebutu, all indicating inflow and outflow of the account from February to May 2023 and Certificate of Compliance.
Two other star witnesses further corroborated this. The first was Mr. Odesanya Olalekan, an artisan from Ijebu North East, and Adeosun Waheed. Both of them confirmed the distribution of the preloaded ATM cards by PDP members on the day of the election and also testified that members of the party disrupted the voting process in the course of their resistance to the use of the BVAS in the conduct of the election.
With these testimonies, who will not know that Adebutu is merely running away from his shadow? But as a drowning man who desperately needed a straw to hold on to, the fugitive candidate, knowing full well that he had no route of escape, having been charged to court, decided to add a fresh twist to the matter, raising a counter-accusation of vote-buying against the APC and Governor Abiodun without any verifiable evidence to back up the claims.
Unfortunately for him, the machination could not stand the test of time. It fell with a loud thud following the police investigation into the matter. In the final analysis, the report presented before the tribunal expressly stated that the allegation of over-voting levelled against APC by the PDP was not substantiated.
The report of the findings reads in part: “That contrary to the claims of some of the witnesses brought forward by the PDP, Daniel Obadamilare, Adesina Sakiru, Dauda Kamil and Ogunleye Francis, their claims of vote-buying cannot be substantiated as they were unable to mention the POS agents that were alleged to have converted the cards to cash for them.
“The APC has denied the allegations leveled against them by presenting evidence such as the Official Gazette and the Executive Order establishing the Ogun State Social Investment Programme, presenting Local Government Chairmen as witnesses to its functionality at the grassroots, presenting beneficiaries of the social investment programme as witnesses and also a sample of appointment letter given to the SIOs (Social Investment Officers).”
Then, the clincher followed. The tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, summarily dismissed the case, declaring it as an afterthought on the ground that it was not part of the original petition filed against the respondents. It was as a result of his failure to bring down Abiodun that Adebutu hurriedly sneaked out of the country and still remains at large now, while he continues to fight a proxy war at the tribunal.
In the same vein and for the umpteenth time, a special panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Wednesday, affirmed the decision of the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had earlier struck out all allegations of vote-buying and voter inducement filed against Governor Dapo Abiodun and APC.
The appellate court equally confirmed that all allegations of vote-buying in Adebutu’s reply were incompetent and as such, it struck out paragraphs 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 of the Reply leaving some a few hollow paragraphs. In the same vein, the Court of Appeal threw out the entire appeal filed by Adebutu and PDP against the decision of the Ogun State Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal which upheld the validity of Governor Abiodun’s defence. It described the appeal filed by Adebutu as unmeritorious and struck it out in its entirety.
With these decisions, Adebutu and the PDP will have to face the full wrath of the law for the allegations of vote-buying that Governor Abiodun had instituted against them. But instead of facing the consequences of their action, they are out to create confusion in the state, interpreting the judgment that is unambiguously clear to suit their selfish purpose.
To set the record straight, however, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has already alerted the public of the evil machination. In a press statement issued in Abeokuta and signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Tunde Oladunjoye, the party urged the public to disregard the bull-and-cock stories being churned out.
The statement reads in part: “While we have applied for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment, we urge PDP and its agents to be responsible enough not to distort public records. Their lies cannot last for long.”
”It has become pertinent to alert the general public on the desperate antics of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State on the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered today.
“It is true the defeated opposition party and its defeated candidate, Ladi Adebutu, who is currently on the run, approached the Court of Appeal, where a suit was filed to challenge the decision of the Ogun State Governorship Election Tribunal, which earlier struck out claims of vote-buying made by PDP against APC and Governor Dapo Abiodun, which the Tribunal described as belated and afterthought.
“The Court, in its lead judgment read by Justice MB Idris, also upheld another decision of the tribunal which confirmed the validity of the defence filed by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
“However, in a rare desperate machination, the PDP rushed to town, claiming the false allegations of vote-buying buying against APC and Dapo Abiodun have been restored by the Appeal Court! There is nothing further than the truth.”
What have we not seen since the tribunal started the hearing proceedings of the case against Governor Abiodun? We have seen the ugly face of violence foisted on the good people of the state in the immediate post-election period. We triumphed because we are on the side of the people. When that failed, they resorted to reckless campaigns of calumny against the innocent Governor. Yet, it didn’t gel. We cannot also forget in a hurry how they routinely organised street protests as a way of blackmailing the electoral umpire, INEC, and to also subdue the judiciary to do their bidding through subtle intimidation. Their last antic is to create confusion ahead of the tribunal judgment. All of these underscore their lack of confidence in the state institution including the judiciary. The whole effervescent after the filling of their election petitions was because they knew they had no case and they have nothing to turn to other than noise-making.
PDP as an opposition party has a prodigious capacity for mischief-making not only here in Ogun State but at any level of government. We know their antecedents. They are part and parcel of the forces fueling social media campaigns and all the negative sentiments that seem to cast an aspersion of the judiciary and other state institutions. As if we have never had an election before, they have routinely criticized and desecrated the temple of justice simply because they lost an election that they knew they could not win in the first instance under a free and fair contest.
But whether or not they like it, the judiciary will act accordingly to the law of the land not the wish of any political party, social media pressure, or influence by big politicians. At all levels, we have watched the whole proceedings of the election petition tribunals. The process has been very strict in terms of upholding the law. For these Judges we see, none of them will bow to intimidation. They will not yield to any form of superficial sentimentality. They are men of honour and integrity.
With the overwhelming weight of evidences the APC and Governor Abiodun have presented before the Tribunal, Adebutu, and his cohort have seen the defeat staring them in the face. The fugitive candidate fears the faith that will befall him if eventually he is convicted and found guilty of the alleged criminality he committed in the last election and so he will stop at nothing to escape the punitive sanction prescribed by the law.
By going to town with a distorted version of the Appeal judgment that is unambiguously clear, the PDP supporters have two things in mind to achieve. One is to cause deliberate confusion in the state. The second reason is self-consolation. Whatever happens, it is the fundamental right of every individual to make him or herself happy under all manners of circumstances. So, if the intention of the supporters of the PDP is to merely gyrate, making fun of the judgment with its innocuous dreams without necessarily causing any harm, so be it.
At the end of the day, judgement will come one day. As far as APC is concerned, there is no shaking; there is no cause for alarm. In the final analysis, it is what is presented to the tribunal the judiciary will go and rule on. It is not sentiment, it is not pressure.
All we are saying now is that parties involved in litigation should be cautious enough to give the Judges the benefit of the doubt for them to do their job. They should not put words into their mouth. Unfortunately, when we have come to a stage where some people have literally written judgments for the matters the trial Judges have not decided. It is all about the power game. Whether or not we like it, the judges will do their job without intimidation, fear or favour. They will give reasons for whatever decision they arrive at. They are not going to listen to any gossip or propaganda. The good people of Ogun State should just be patient, for the best is going to come in the fullness of time.
•Ogbonnikan wrote from Abeokuta, Ogun State capital
