Although the Ogun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has delivered its judgment and confirmed the election of Governor Dapo Abiodun, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Ladipupo Adebutu, are taking the battle to the Court of Appeal.
Both are kinsmen from Iperu Remo in the Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, but it appears politics has set them on an unavoidable collision course.
While the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, pitched his tent with the All Progressives Congress, Ladipupo Adebutu, the scion of the billionaire lotto magnate, Chief Kensington Adebutu found comfort in the Peoples Democratic Party.
Abiodun and Adebutu contested the March 18, 2023, governorship election in the state on their respective parties’ platforms.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, however, on March 20, declared Abiodun the winner of the election with 276,298 votes; Adebutu had 262,383 votes to earn second place, while Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress finished in a distant third place with 94,754 votes.
Exactly 20 days after the governorship election was held, and Adebutu and his party, which had earlier rejected the governorship election result, filed a petition before the state governorship election petitions tribunal, seeking an order declaring him the winner of the election.
Adebutu asked the tribunal to quash Abiodun’s victory for not complying with the 2022 Electoral Acts as amended, for being involved in corrupt practices, and for not being qualified to have contested the 2023 governorship election.
Other irregularities Adebutu cited to have marred the governorship elections were allegations of vote-buying, voters’ disenfranchisement, harassment, ballot box-snatching, and multiple thumb-printing, among others.
In the petition before the tribunal, Adebutu was marked as the first petitioner and the PDP as the second petitioner, while INEC, the governor, and the APC were marked as the first, second, and third respondents, respectively.
To prosecute his petition before the Justice Hamidu Kunaza-led three-man tribunal, the PDP governorship candidate hired the services of Chris Uche (SAN), his brother, Gordy Uche (SAN), and other lawyers.
On the other side, Dr Remi Olatubora (SAN) led the team of lawyers for INEC, the first respondent; Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Wole Olanipekun (SAN), and others represented Abiodun, the second respondent; and Chief Afolabi Fashanu (SAN), Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), and others represented the third respondent, the APC.
After about three months of arguing back and forth before the tribunal, during which the petitioners called 94 witnesses and tendered over 200,000 documents as evidence while the respondents also called in six witnesses, the tribunal fixed September 4 for the adoption of final written addresses.
Adopting his final written address, Adebutu’s counsel, Mr Chris Uche, in his final written address, urged the tribunal to grant all the reliefs sought by the petitioner, including the disqualification of Abiodun as a candidate in the March 18 election.
He further stated, “Upon a proper calculation of the lawful votes cast in the election, excluding the votes earned by multiple thumb-printing and ticking of ballot papers under the watch of INEC, the petitioner scored the majority of the lawful votes.”
According to him, about 40,891 votes were wrongfully credited to the governor.