'Stop the blackmail, I didn’t engage in vote buying' - Ladi Adebutu blasts opposition party

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, has warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to put an end to blackmailing him, saying he did not engage in vote buying during the March 18 polls.

Reports indicate that the Chairman of the APC in Ogun State, Yemi Sanusi, had petitioned the police, asking that Adebutu be investigated for allegedly buying votes.

However in a statement on Tuesday, the Media Director of Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation, Afolabi Orekoya, stated that the claims were baseless, adding that the APC and its candidate have “decided to go for cheap blackmail after realizing that our candidate and PDP’s petition before the tribunal is unequivocally tight.”

The statement read in part: “The PDP and Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu hereby assure the good people of Ogun that every attempt by the APC and its candidate to continue to rubbish the commitments shown by the good people of Ogun State evident through the over 260,000 votes cast for PDP and its gubernatorial candidate in the March 18th elections will be resisted.

“The Ogun APC and their social media warlords should note that the Election Petition Tribunal, as constituted, is clear on its mandate, which is to hear all petitions emanating from the 2023 February and March elections. Therefore, any ploy to influence the outcome of the tribunal by circulating incoherent, illogical, and baseless claims like this one will definitely continue to expose APC known ridicule.

“The PDP and its candidate are open to cooperating with the relevant authorities within the ambit of the law.

“The issues before the Election Petition Tribunal are substantiated documentary evidence of over-voting, suppression of voters, noncompliance with the Electoral Act, and the Constitution. And no distractive tendencies to buy public sympathy will destroy the truth of solid facts.

“We hereby advise the Ogun APC that, rather than employing this cheap tactic of intimidation, blackmail and misinforming the public, they should reserve their energy to prove their innocence against the allegations in the petitions at the tribunal.

“While we are confident of the Judiciary’s commitment to upholding the tenets of rule of law and ensuring fair hearing on the issues raised at the tribunal, we are urging members of the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal not to be swayed by the antics of Mr Abiodun to influence the process of the hearing through preempting of the Judiciary through media propaganda.”