Police Invite Ogun PDP Ex-Governorship Candidate, Ladi Adebutu After DSS Grilling
The invitation comes in the wake of allegations linking him to disturbances during the local government elections held on November 16, 2024, in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed victory in all contested seats.
The Ogun State Police Command has summoned Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2023 elections, to its headquarters in Abeokuta for questioning.
The invitation comes in the wake of allegations linking him to disturbances during the local government elections held on November 16, 2024, in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed victory in all contested seats.
It was gathered that Adebutu is currently being held at the Police Command headquarters in the Ogun State capital.
Meanwhile, he was accused of allegedly recruiting about 40 unauthorised police officers from Lagos and organising thugs to disrupt the electoral process.
The timing of the invitation follows a separate interrogation by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), which grilled Adebutu earlier this week.
In a statement he personally signed upon his release on Tuesday, Adebutu vehemently denied the allegations, labelling them as unfounded.
He further described the arrest as a politically motivated attempt to silence his voice.
According to Adebutu, “It was about 7 am, Tuesday, 19th November 2024, I was released by the Department of State Services in Abeokuta following an invitation to answer to various spurious accusations all arising from the November 16 Local Government election in Ogun State
“Very sadly, the allegations were so baseless that it became clear that their purpose was to silence me as a voice of the opposition. My contention that those elections were not free and fair is my fundamental right to free speech and free thought,” he said.
“My thinking that the Local Government should have financial autonomy that can only be enforced by free and fair elections is germane to our development. Mr President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, shares the same view as mine which shows it is not a partisan position but a nationalistic one,” Adebutu added.