Ogun Tribunal dismisses APP, NNPP petitions against Abiodun, APC

the re-evaluation of the grounds and facts of the petition, the petitioner is not reasonably convinced about the sustainability of the grounds of the petition as presently constituted before this Honourable Tribunal.”

APP declared that the withdrawal of the petition is based on the fact that upon a further evaluation of the petition, the petitioner had found that the respondent won the highest number of lawful votes as duly recognised by INEC and permitted by law.

On its own, the NNPP Chairman in the state, Sunday Oginni had disclosed that the party, which filed a petition against Abiodun before the Tribunal over the alleged omission of the party’s logo on the ballot papers for the governorship election by INEC was ready to withdraw.

“The New Nigeria Peoples

Party, Ogun State chapter under the leadership of Comrade Olaposi Oginni Sunday hereby step out of court and withdraw the suit with petition number: EPT/OG/ GOV/01/2023,” he announced.

“We came to realise that on that same date; March 18 despite the fact that the INEC did not comply with an electoral act that stipulated that the name and logo must be on the ballot, the electorates still manage to vote for some of NNPP’s candidates and some of our candidates won in some places”.

“For example, in Kano State, the governorship candidate of our party and candidates of NNPP for the house of assembly and Reps were declared winners”, Oginni said.

The Chairman of the Tribunal upheld the applications of the two party and dismissed the petitions accordingly.

Alleged threat: Adebutu chased by ego, creditors, failed ambition – Ogun APC

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Ogun State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election, Ladi Adebutu, as “one who is only being pursued by creditors, his ego and failed ambition”.

The Ogun APC stated this in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, on Monday.

Oladunjoye was reacting to a news report credited to Adebutu, who lost the March 19, 2023 governorship election, that he has “gone into hiding over an alleged threat to his life.”

The ruling APC described Adebutu’s “latest script as advance-clowning taken too far”.

He said the State Security Service (SSS) withdrew its officers attached to him and the police reduced their own, saying that he felt exposed to harm after the SSS withdrew its personnel and the police scaled down their own.

Adebutu alleged that he was in possession of credible intelligence that attempts were being made to kidnap him before the determination of his petition.

Oladunjoye said, “We do not want to believe that someone who had dreamt of being the governor of a state like Ogun is oblivious of the fact that it is a normal practice to downsize security details after elections, except you are a President, Vice- President, Governor and others.

“Perhaps, he wants to continue to hold on to security operatives paid by tax payers’ money as he did on the day of the last governorship election, when he was moving from Ogun East senatorial district to the others, in breach of the Electoral laws and guidelines,” the statement said.

The APC further stated that, “Our advice to Adebutu is that ‘promise is a debt until it is paid’, he should pay without further delay, his sundry creditors, agents, officials and contractors, and stop muckracking in a vainglorious attempt to cover his misdeeds.”

“It would be recalled that recently, a letter of appointment by PDP/Adebutu to one of his lackeys went viral. The latest is his funny request for security cover equivalent to that of an elected state governor!

“Adebutu should just stop all these hallucinations and be prepared to face the laws of the land on what he and his ramshackle party perpetrated during the last elections. He can only run, but cannot hide forever from the long arms of the law”, the statement concluded.