Gov Abiodun opens defence in petition challenging victory in Ogun election

The Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Friday, opened his defence in the petition challenging his victory in the March 18 governorship election at the state election petitions tribunal sitting in Abeokuta.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had closed their defence in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state, Ladi Adebutu.

Adebutu and his party are challenging the outcome of the election over alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 by INEC in the conduct of the election and widespread irregularities during the exercise.

He called 94 witnesses and tendered over 200,000 documents to prove the allegations of fraud in the election.

READ ALSO: Ogun election tribunal admits 8,000 exhibits presented by Adebutu

At Friday’s proceeding, the governor, who is represented by his counsel, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), called his first witness, Jimoh Gbadebo.

In his testimony, Gbadebo admitted that the election was disrupted by a group of thugs in seven out of 14 polling units in Ward 6, Sagamu, Sagamu local government area of the state.

He added that the thugs moved around the area and destroyed the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, ballot boxes and papers a few hours into the election.

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