Ogun APC tells Adebutu to face his criminal trial, stop patronising Tinubu

The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has advised the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state, Ladi Adebutu to “face the subsisting criminal charges against him and stop patronising President Bola Tinubu.”

The APC was reacting to a statement credited to Adebutu, who recently returned to Nigeria after being abroad for over six months. He was quoted to have said at a New Year party that “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu belongs to us all. Nobody can lay claim to the Presidency, it belongs to all Nigerians. Stop harassing us, we are all Tinubu’s children.”

However, the Ogun State APC, in a statement on Monday by its Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, advised Adebutu to “stop evading court papers and answer the criminal charges against him rather than resort to vaingloriously patronising President Bola Tinubu.”

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It will be recalled that the Attorney General of the Federation, in June, filed criminal charges, bordering on vote-buying and money laundering, against Adebutu.

Adebutu, however, described the charges as an abuse of court processes, contending that he was denied a fair hearing before the charges were filed.

The APC, in its statement on Monday, reiterated its call for Adebutu to make himself available for the service of court papers, saying patronising Tinubu would not shield him from prosecution.

The APC said: “Tinubu will never support criminality and attempts to destroy the democratic process in the country. He will not condone people who subvert the democratic process through vote-buying. He should wait patiently for his day in court rather than trying to patronise Tinubu. He should count Tinubu out of his predicament.

“President Tinubu is, no doubt, the father of the nation, just like Prince Dapo Abiodun is the father of Ogun State. Mr. President needs no reminders on that. As a genuine pro-democracy activist who paid enormous sacrifices for the democracy we now enjoy, President Tinubu will never provide cover for criminality by anyone, no matter how rich or solicitous. Our dear President will never stand in the way of the law.”

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