A civil society organization, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) has called for an international warrant of arrest on Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the March 18th, 2023 gubernatorial election in Ogun State for alleged violation of Nigeria’s Electoral Act and for ignoring police invitation.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its Executive Director, Nelson Ekujumi, the group said it has followed with keen interest the police investigation of Adebutu’s incontrovertible vote buying scam during the Ogun State gubernatorial election of 18th March, 2023 in which each voter was induced at the polls on election day with a pre loaded ATM card with the inscription Dame Caroline Scheme to the tune of ten thousand naira (N10,000) to vote for Adebutu on election day, which amounted to a violation of Nigeria’s Electoral Act (2022) as amended.
According to Ekujumi, CPPM physically witnessed this flagrant violation of the electoral Act on election day by Adebutu and his party from the reports of its deployed observers as well as through complaints by some voters who felt that they were deceived to vote and collect ten thousand naira when some of the pre loaded ATM cards could not be redeemed, while others were redeemed, unaware that they were accessories to a crime.
“This anomaly and electoral Act violation is contained in CPPM observation report and has now been corroborated by the interim report of the Nigeria Police investigation of this crime against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This case must be pursued to a logical conclusion to serve as a deterrent to politicians and sanitize our democracy ,” the statement added.
The civil society organization noted that the report of the Nigeria Police investigation with regards to the inducement of voters with the pre loaded ATM cards with the inscription Dame Caroline Scheme and provision of POS terminals within the vicinity of polling stations in Ogun State on election day to redeem the ten thousand naira vote buying money is public knowledge and verifiable.
The Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) used the occasion of the press statement to commend the security agencies for this painstaking and thorough report and for the arrest of some of the perpetrators of this violations of the Electoral Act on election day for which their statements and exhibits were used as part of the investigation to establish that the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Adebutu, who is now on the run, has a case to answer.
The civil society organization then called on the Nigeria Police to “interface with Interpol to issue an international warrant of arrest on Adebutu, who is trying to deflect from his alleged violation of the electoral Act by fleeing the country under the guise of his life being under threat which is a ruse.”
