By Musa Baba Adamu
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, has cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop blackmailing him, saying he did not engage in vote buying during the March 18 polls.
Note that the Chairman of the APC in Ogun State, Yemi Sanusi, had petitioned the police, asking that Adebutu be investigated and arrested for alleged vote buying.
But, in a statement made available to journàlists in Abeokuta on Tuesday, the Media Director of Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation, Afolabi Orekoya, described the claim as unsubstantiated, saying 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.”
Orekoya said the APC resorted to blackmail after failing in its efforts to “coax, intimidate and harass Adebutu to withdraw the petition” despite pleas from their emissaries, delegations and despite “offer of monetary compensation.”
He said the party “resorted to blackmail, media trial, depravity and malfeasance in an attempt to buy public sentiment and confuse the judiciary.”
According to him, Tunde Oladunjoye, the Ogun APC Publicity Secretary, had earlier claimed on a television show that one of the many humanitarian gestures of the Adebutu family was for other purposes and intent.
“For clarity sake, the fact of the burial of the Adebutu matriarch, Late Dame Caroline Adebutu, on February 11th, 2023 is in the public domain and it will be unreasonable and unconscionable for anyone under the guise of paid reporting to attempt to twist the details,” he said.
