Vote Buying: A’Court Strikes Out Adebutu, PDP’s Suit against Tribunal’s Decision

James Sowole in Abeokuta

A special panel of the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, affirmed the decision of the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had earlier struck out all allegations of vote-buying and voter inducement that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),  and its candidate, Ladi Adebutu,  made against Governor Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressives Congress  (APC).

The court, in its lead judgment read by Justice  M B Idris, further upheld another decision of the tribunal, which confirmed the validity of the defence filed by Abiodun.

The PDP and Adebutu, had  on May 22,  2023, filed a reply to the defence filed by Abiodun. In the said reply, Adebutu and PDP alleged, for the first time, that Abiodun and APC bought votes in the 18 March 2023, Ogun State guber elections.

When Abiodun received Adebutu’s reply, the governor’s lawyers filed an application asking the Tribunal to strike out the reply in its entirety or in the alternative, strike out offending paragraphs from that reply.

The Governor’s lawyers argued that the reply filed by Adebutu and PDP contravened Para 16(1)(a & b) of the Schedule to the Electoral Act and the rules of court pleadings.

The Tribunal agreed with the Governor’s lawyers and struck out the entire reply filed by Adebutu and PDP.

It was established before the panel that the allegation made by Adebutu and PDP was an after thought, which was hastily put together after Abiodun made weighty allegations backed up with police investigation report, establishing that Adebutu and PDP bought votes during the elections in his defence.

The police report, led to the filling of a suit by the federal government against Adebutu and nine others, over allegation of vote buying.

Not satisfied with the striking of the vote buying allegation against Abiodun, the PDP and its candidate, approached the Court of Appeal.

But the Court of Appeal affirmed, that all allegations of vote-buying in Adebutu’s reply, were incompetent, and consequently struck out paragraphs 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 of the reply, leaving only a few paragraphs.

The court then threw out the entire appeal filed by Adebutu and PDP against the decision of the tribunal which upheld the validity of Abiodun’s defence.

Earlier in his defence, Abiodun had made allegations of electoral fraud against the PDP and Adebutu, which was allegedly, perpetrated during the March 18 governorship election in the state.

Rather than counter Abiodun’s allegations, Adebutu’s lawyers belatedly introduced their own counter-allegations of vote buying (all of which have now been struck out) while also asking the Tribunal to strike out the Governor’s allegations of vote-buying.

The tribunal unanimously held that Abiodun was not restricted to the same issues that Adebutu and PDP raised in their petition and that the governor was free to allege and prove acts of vote-buying against PDP and its candidate, describing the appeal filed by Adebutu as unmeritorious and struck out the appeal in its entirety.