*Group Commends Ogun PDP for Confirming Members' Arraignment for Vote-buying, Adebutu and Others Awaiting Trial*

*Group Commends Ogun PDP for Confirming Members' Arraignment for Vote-buying, Adebutu and Others Awaiting Trial*

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a human rights and rule of law advocacy group, has commended the Ogun state chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) for unwittingly confirming that five of it members are standing trial for vote-buying while five others, including its governorship candidate, Mr. Ladi Adebutu have been on the run and yet to answer Police invitation.

CSJ Coordinator, Adeniyi Okusegun Isaac, urged the PDP to “continue in this line of truth”. The statement read as follows: “In the statement issued by the Ogun state PDP, the party gave the names of its members who were charged for vote-buying by the Federal Government as 𝘖𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥, 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘺𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘶, 𝘌𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢 𝘖𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪, 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘉𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪 𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦.”

The PDP statement of confirmation read in part, "It was gathered that 𝘖𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥, 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘺𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘶, 𝘌𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢 𝘖𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘉𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘳𝘶𝘨 𝘓𝘢𝘸 𝘌𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘣𝘦𝘰𝘬𝘶𝘵𝘢 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 18𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 2023, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘺’𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

"Upon the arrest, 52 ATM cards were found on them which led to further interrogation. Upon interrogation, the suspects mentioned the names of four people regarded as their leaders who gave them the cards for an empowerment scheme. After interrogation by the NDLEA, they were transferred to the State Police headquarters on the same day.

"In like manner, Sanni Adejoke was arrested by the Police on a motorcycle early in the morning of 18th March at Agbado in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State with the same ATM cards found on her and was equally transferred to State Police headquarters in Abeokuta the same day.

"Following the findings by the Police which revealed that the suspects were members of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Gubernatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party was thereafter listed for invitation by the Police on the matter.

"You will recall that an interim Police report emerged sometime in May on the allegation of vote buying and later an updated Police report was also released to the media.

"𝙐𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧.

"𝙁𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 on the matter 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙙 that 𝙃𝙤𝙣(𝘿𝙧). 𝙊𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙥𝙪𝙥𝙤 𝘼𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙪 and the other four people mentioned in the course of interrogating the suspects 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 as at the time of this report."

CSJ added that: “With the above statement by the Ogun State PDP confirming its members as being arrested and charged for vote-buying and that five others, including its governorship candidate in the 2023 governorship poll as being indicted but awaiting their day with the Police and court, we salute the courage of the Ogun state PDP. This is really commendable and we urge it to continue in this line of truth for the  good book says you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free!".