Ladi Adebutu

The Ogun State Government has has addressed the allegations made against Governor Dapo Abiodun by the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ladi Adebutu.

Adebutu had claimed that Abiodun, had during Saturday’s local government election, moved around with armed military personnel and the police to unleash violence on the people.

However, speaking via a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, the state government said Adebutu is a drowning man who is finding someone to drag with him into the abyss.

Akinmade explained that immediately after the governor finished voting, he headed home, where he was until the election, after which he decided to return to Ondo State.

He noted that Ogun State has not witnessed any political violence since Abiodun assumed office.

The spokesman accused Adebutu of political thuggery, adding that contrary to the electoral act, he illegally brought in 40 policemen from MOPOL 49 in Lagos and, along with PDP thugs on Okada who went about with guns, cutlasses, and other dangerous weapons, attempting to snatch ballot boxes.

According to Akinmade, one of the polling booths invaded was where the Vice Chairman of Ikenne Local Government, Muhammed Efuwape, was about to vote. He was shot by the policemen alongside one other voter. Enraged voters pursued the policemen, who fled to the home of Adebutu, where they took refuge.

He said, “Rather than allowing the policemen to be picked up, Hon. Abebutu aided their escape from his house, while only four were arrested.

“As a professional clown whose own running mate said he would have been a disaster as governor, Adebutu spun wicked lies like the current one during his case at the election petitions tribunal, and right up to the Supreme Court where he was brutally bludgeoned for his egregious falsehoods.”

Akinmade further described Adebutu as a “sore loser who is yet to come to terms with his electoral deficit and polarized political structure.