The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been warned to focus on the petition before the tribunal challenging his victory at the March 18 governorship polls.
OsunDaily News reports that the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) slammed Abiodun and the APC over an alleged claim that the party’s governorship candidate in the March 18 polls, Oladipupo Adebutu is bullying the judiciary.
Reacting to the governor’s and the APC’s claim, the Ogun PDP said its journey towards retrieving its stolen mandate from the APC is perfectly on course.
The statement which was signed by the PDP’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Asiwaju Akinloye Bankole, pointed out that ordinarily it won’t respond to the frivolous claims, but Adebutu is a law abiding citizen who respects and has hope in the judiciary system of the country.
The Ogun PDP in the statement stated that “The attention of Ogun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has been drawn to some publications over the weekend, one credited to the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ogun State Chapter, where the gubernatorial Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Oladipupo Adebutu was alleged of bullying the Judiciary and cyber-stalking Prince Dapo Abiodun and another one through a blogger with the title “Dapo to lose 60k votes as Ladi Adebutu forfeits 30k votes” feigning it was released by the PDP
“Ordinarily, we do not attend to frivolous matters nor dignified indecency, and people who enjoy playing in the pigsty with responses, as doing so makes us no different from them.
“Adebutu, as a law-abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with a strong belief in the judiciary as the hope of the common man that provides succor to the oppressed and liberator of the defenseless from the high handedness of oppressors, together with the party approached the elections petition tribunal with petitions, to register displeasure on the level of partisanship, anomalies, manipulations and several irregularities discovered in the just concluded 2023 elections in the State.
“It is a shameful act for the Ogun APC team to have called Adebutu out for exercising his fundamental human rights, after all, the Nigerian Constitution reckons with freedom of speech and expression, which Adebutu has done harmlessly. For them to have started crying when trials have not commenced is not new antics to cause distractions, particularly when the truth is catching up with them daily.
“Election tribunal is not a military zone and anyone who has no skeleton in his cupboard should not shiver but accept being served with the petitions and not until an order for substituted service was granted before Dapo Abiodun could be served.
“If truly the APC won the election beyond a reasonable doubt, then, there is no need for APC to twist narratives, whip sentiments around the Judiciary and cry foul when nothing happened. Dapo Abiodun and APC should prepare themselves for the trials at the tribunal and stop disturbing the public with lies and also stop sending emissaries to the patriarch of the Adebutu family to plead, rather, they should allow the judiciary, the only hope of common man to perform its constitutional duties. After all, ours is a constitutional democracy.
“It is no more a surprise to us and the general public that the APC is known for intimidating and attacking peaceful individuals, so as to restrict people from exposing their illicit acts.
“The iniquity perpetrated by the APC in the just concluded general elections is visible to the public view, there is nowhere to hide, as we have enough video evidence of their brazen brigandage and harassment deployed to subvert the popular wish of innocent citizens.
“We want to enjoin the good citizens of Ogun state not to get distracted with APC’s antics and cry of shame. The journey towards retrieving the stolen people’s mandate from the sinking APC is perfectly on course; in a couple of months, Ogun state shall be ushered into an era of abundance and relief.”
