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Tag: Oladipupo Adebutu.

  • Ogun 2019: You’re on your own, INEC tells Adebutu

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) has said any Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member in Ogun State campaigning for elective position without being on the candidates’ list released by the electoral umpire “is on his or her own” as the body has nothing to do with such.

    Mr. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner for Information, Media and Voter Education, said this while featuring on Citizens’ Forum, a programme aired by the Rock City 101.9 FM, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu, a member of the House of Representatives and some of his supporters have been campaigning for various offices despite not making the list of candidates released by INEC.

    Adebutu has been at loggerheads with Senator Buruji Kashamu, PDP’s governorship candidate in Ogun State, over the governorship ticket.

    According to Okoye, only members of the PDP whose names were on the list released by INEC were the genuine candidates of the party, adding that others were mere pretenders.

    Okoye said, “Our position is that the INEC received judgments of properly constituted courts of law and we have given effect to the judgments that we have. The judgments that we have asked the INEC to recognize the list of candidates submitted by a particular faction of the PDP in Ogun State.

    “We have recognized the candidates submitted by that particular political party and we have published the names of those candidates recognized by the court. So, it is the names of those candidates that have been published. Any other individual, outside that particular list, who is campaigning for any position whatsoever, is on his or her own.

    Read Also: Adebutu: I’m the authentic PDP candidate

    “The INEC has nothing to do with that. We have obeyed the law. We have published the list of candidates that we were asked to publish based on court order and we have done what the law requires us to do.”

    Okoye also said that INEC was doing all within its powers to prevent vote buying during the elections.

    According to him, “The INEC has intelligence that as we are working assiduously to prevent the phenomenon of vote buying, politicians and political parties are working assiduously at devising new mechanisms on how to corrupt the electoral system and subvert the will of the people. We are going to put up new measures to address this issue.

    “My advice is that those who want to violate the law and those who want to change the will of the Nigerian people can continue with what they are doing. But on election day, the INEC will work with security agencies to make sure that anybody who tries to corrupt the electoral process or who attempts to violate the will of the people is apprehended and prosecuted.

    “My advice to political parties and candidates that want to subvert the will of the people is that they should be very careful because INEC and all the security agencies will be on the watch out for anyone who wants to violate the law.”

    The INEC National Commissioner said the general election would witness a larger voter turnout than the 2015 elections.

    He said, “We expect a larger voter turnout based on various variables.

    “One, we have registered over 80 million voters for this particular election. Second, the simultaneous accreditation and voting will afford Nigerian people the opportunity of voting without any disruption or delay.

    “Third, we expect the political parties to mobilize electorate for them to come out to cast their votes. We expect a higher voter turnout in this election than we had in the previous election.”

  • Breaking: Appeal Court sacks Kashamu, others as Ogun PDP candidates

    The Ibadan Division of the Appeal Court, on Tuesday December 18, 2018 sacked Senator Buruji Kashamu and other ‘candidates’ in the Adebayo Dayo-led faction of the Ogun State PDP.

    The three-man appeal panel set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abeokuta which threw up Kashamu and his factional members as the authentic PDP candidates.

    The panel headed by Justice A. B. Bada, resolved the four issues raised for determination in the appeal in favour of the PDP, saying the appellants were not properly served in the case at the lower court which breached their rights to fair hearing.

    Both Justices Bada and N. Okoronkwo agreed with Justice H. S. Samani who read the lead judgment.

    Read Also: We will ensure even development of Ogun, says Kashamu

    The judgment is expected to have removed the cloud over governorship candidates of Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu and the National Assembly and Ogun State House of Assembly candidates for the 2019 election.

    The PDP had dragged the Adedayo Bayo-led faction to the appellate court to challenge the lower court judgment which threw up its candidates.

    They prayed the court to set aside the judgment on the grounds that they were not properly served before judgment was delivered and that the lower court judge was wrong in his judgment.

  • Ogun PDP governorship crisis: Appeal Court delivers verdict today in Adebutu/Kashamu suit

    Senator Buruji Kashamu and Oladipupo Adebutu will today know their fate over their claims to the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State.

    The Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, will deliver its judgment on the matter today.

    Justice Abubakar Shittu of a Federal High Court in Ogun State, in October, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept a list of candidates from the Adebayo Dayo-led faction of the party.

    The faction is loyal to Kashamu, the senator representing Ogun East District and the governorship candidate of the faction.

    The judgment came after Adebutu had been named the governorship candidate of the party.

    Rather than surrender, the PDP, through its counsel, Emeka Etiaba (SAN), approached the appellate court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The party sought an order to set aside the judgment on the ground of non-service on the PDP, the process upon which the orders were based, lack of fair hearing, Supreme Court judgment on PDP leadership tussle, among others.

    The situation leaves the two politicians claiming to be the authentic candidates of the party while awaiting the decision of the appellate court.

    At the hearing of the appeal yesterday before a three-man panel, Etiaba argued that the PDP was not served the processes upon which the orders were predicated and was consequently not given fair hearing in the matter brought before Justice Shittu by the Dayo-led faction.

    On the leadership tussle in the party, Etiaba argued that the Supreme Court had laid the issue to rest.

    The issue of bias against Justice Shittu included in the brief of appeal by the appellants’ counsel as one of the grounds of appeal, resulting from the lack of fair hearing ground, was later withdrawn by Etiaba on the advice of one of the three judges who heard the appeal.

    Counsel to Dayo, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), prayed the appellate court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.

    He argued that the court bailiff approached the office of the PDP National Secretary from where he was directed to the Legal Department of the party for service of the court processes.

    Izinyon said the bailiff, as stated in his affidavit filed before the court, met some lawyers at the Legal Department who refused to accept service of the processes, claiming there was a holiday.

    But the PDP lawyer counter-argued that the law is that an officer of the party not lower than a Secretary must be served such processes.

    Izinyon said the argument should have been filed in an affidavit to controvert the bailiff’s claim.

    After listening to both counsel, the presiding judge, Justice J. A. Bada, asked the parties to address the court on whether the matter was a pre-election case or not, based on the provisions of Section 285, Subsection 14 a-c of the Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution.

    Etiaba said it was not a pre-election matter as it did not fall within the category of cases classified as such.

    But Izinyon said it was a pre-election matter and so remained statute-barred.

    The lawyer urged the court to strike out certain paragraphs in the appellants’ brief.

    Justice Bada fixed 3 p.m. today for judgment on the matter.

  • Threat to life: Court orders Kashamu to submit self for investigation

    Threat to life: Court orders Kashamu to submit self for investigation

    A Federal High Court in Abuja ‎on Thursday ordered the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, to submit himself for investigation over life threatening allegation filed against him.

    A member of the House of Representatives from Ikenne, Sagamu and Remo North Federal Constituency in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, in a petition to the police, dated August 16, 2016, accused Kashamu of threatening his life.

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba gave the order while ruling on a fundamental rights enforcement filed suit by Kashamu, in which he claimed that the police invitation was a ploy to extradite him to United States for drug related offences.

    Justice Dimgba said Kashamu’s apprehension that he could be arrested, detained and extradited to the U.S was understandable.

    The judge said though he has ordered Kashamu to submit himself to the police for investigation, that should not provide the police with a cover to arrest, detain or extradite him to the U.S.

    Justice Dimgba said it would be unlawful for any other agency to assist the police in repatriating him to the U.S in view of the subsisting judgment given in his favour by court.

     

  • Reps want FG to increase budget for rural development

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to give due attention to rural development by increasing the annual budget of the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to accommodate the increasing needs of the rural populace.

    The House also mandated its committee in Rural Development to investigate the state of rural developmental projects nationwide and the specific programmes geared towards rural development, and report back within four weeks.

    The House resolutions were sequel to the passage of a motion sponsored by a member of the House, Oladipupo Adebutu.

    Adebutu noted that the main sectors that drive development across the world are agricultural, industrial, communications, education and other allied sectors.

    He said the government has not funded rural development projects adequately, adding that some countries have ministries that cater for rural development and correct developmental imbalances.

    He said, “In 2012, out of N36 billion budgeted for capital projects by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development , only about N3.5 billion, which was provided through the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) funding and representing about 4 percent of the entire ministry’s budget for that year, was allocated to rural development.

    “In the 2013 budget, about N39.5 billion was budgeted for capital projects, but only about only N2.8 billion of this amount, again provided through the MDGs funding to the ministry and representing about 5.5 percent of the entire ministry’s budget for the year, was allocated to rural development .

    “The 2014 and 2015 budgets were not much different from those of the previous years.”