....insists Ladi Adebutu must return home to face charges of electoral malpractices

The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Ogun State, has commended the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the State over Saturday's verdict, which upheld the election of Governor Dapo Abiodun.

It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the March 18 governorship poll, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu,  had petitioned the Tribunal citing some alleged irregularities.

Subsequently, the 3-man panel, in its ruling that lasted for more than 11 hours unanimously dismissed all the three grounds canvassed by the petitioners, for lack of merit and incompetence. 

Addressing a press conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Tuesday, IPAC's State Chairman, Engr. Samson Okusanya described the statement credited to PDP after the judgement, which discredited the verdict, as docile and out of crass ignorance from political merchants.

Okusanya said contrary to the claims made by Adebutu and his team of lawyers that the verdict of the Tribunal was based on technicalities, the rulings were predicated on fairness and objectivity on the point of law.

"Ogun State IPAC  wouldn't have dignified this beer parlour publication laced with deliberate falsehood or considered it necessary to react to such an epistle of personal bitterness, ignorance and complete unintelligent outburst from those political traders, buccaneers, scavengers, emergency democrats, political predators, misfits and pedestrian politicians, but for the benefit of the few in the public who may innocently be misinformed by this ethically rusty and morally depraved social misfit and miscreants.

"We find their arguments empty and blind, where they claimed they were perplexed by the Tribunal's reliance on technicalities involving procedural issues and semantics of the interpretation of words over the substance and core realities of the case.

"Ladi Adebutu and his team of Lawyers ought to have known that law and facts are not based on technicalities but rather on fairness and objectivity of the legal process which stipulates that the petitioner ought to have front-loaded certain information in the petition. 

"Or did our laws not state emphatically that HE WHO ALLEGES MUST PROVE? 

"The Tribunal's verdict on Ladi Adebutu's petition clearly revealed that the petition contained so many procedural flaws with antecedents' interpretation of words. The subsequent dismissal of the substantive suits is therefore right in the eyes of the Law," the IPAC leader averred.

It, therefore, commended members of the panel for treating the petitions on their merits and with analytical minds, saying the verdict was a watershed and point of reference, even as it called on other political parties to join hands with Governor Dapo Abiodun to move the State to enviable heights.

IPAC also called on Adebutu to return home from his present sojourn abroad as a fugitive, following allegations of vote buying and money laundering levelled against him by security agencies, and discontinue his plan to approach the appellate court for further litigation.

It continued: "We salute the judiciary and most importantly the members of the Tribunal led by Justice Kunaza and other members for a job well done. The judgment was indeed a watershed as it was deep, analytical and fair in all ramifications. We make bold to say it is worthy of emulation.

"At this juncture, we call on the 3 remaining opposition parties in Ogun State to support the dream of H.E Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON, to further move Ogun State forward. The wishes of the people of Ogun State have been upheld by the Tribunal and as such, all well-meaning stakeholders in the state must drop their hatchets and join Governor Abiodun's march to prosperity.

"The PDP and her candidate,  Hon. Ladi Adebutu,  should by now realise that Ogun State is not a commodity for purchase. We implore him to discontinue his sojourn abroad as a fugitive, and immediately return to Ogun State in Nigeria to join hands to build our dear state. He should as a matter of importance, discontinue his planned wild goose chase at the appellate court and accept the will of God.

"It's a known fact that Mr Adebutu is being hunted by the vote-buying allegations which have been investigated by different relevant agencies thus it is expedient for him to turn himself in.

"We, therefore, congratulate Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON, for the victory of Saturday,  and urge him to continue to demonstrate good leadership in Ogun State and remain focused on transforming the State."