Politics

Ladi Adebutu is on the run, trying to evade prosecution for vote buying, money laundering–Investigation

Published

1 year ago

May 24, 2023

Sahara Weekly

Face your criminal charges and stop sounding like a broken record, Ogun APC tells Adebutu, PDP

Ladi Adebutu is on the run, trying to evade prosecution for vote buying, money laundering–Investigation

Contrary to his claim that he left the country because of alleged threats to his life, the

candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18 governorship election in Ogun State, Hon Ladi Adebutu, actually travelled abroad to evade the long arm of the law over alleged criminal activities, sources have revealed.

Checks revealed that Adebutu left the country following security agencies’ uncovering of a vote buying plot linked to him during the March 18, 2023 governorship and House of Assembly polls in Ogun State and the invitation extended to him to clarify issues.

According to the sources, Adebutu was alleged to have perpetrated bribery, conspiracy and peddling undue influence contrary to sections 121 and 127 of the Electoral Act 2022; breach of electoral law prohibiting vote trading, deliberate facilitation of money laundering, and connivance to deliberately breach the monetary policy of the Federation.

Sources revealed that in a letter made available to security agencies investigating his criminal activities, Adebutu had indicated that he travelled abroad to seek medical care, and had given no indication of threat to life.

Sources within the security services indicated that

preliminary nvestigations showed that in the build-up to the election, Adebutu had contacted his bank and caused over 200,000 prepaid Verve bank cards preloaded with N10,000 each to be printed.

Ladi Adebutu is on the run, trying to evade prosecution for vote buying, money laundering--Investigation

A credible security source confirmed, with clear-cut evidence that these Verve Bank Cards were delivered directly in two batches on the 16th and 17th of March 2023, respectively, by an accounts officer from Zenith bank.

This, it was maintained, is a violation of Section 121of the Electoral Act (2022), which prescribes 12 months’ imprisonment for any “person who directly or indirectly, by his or herself or by any other person on his other behalf corruptly makes any gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement or agreement to or for any person, in order to induce such person to procure or to endeavour to procure the return of any person as a member of a legislative house or to an elective office or the vote of any voter at any election.”

The Verve cards, which were supposedly printed to honour the lawmaker’s late mother, were however uncovered as vote buying instruments going by the confessions of party agents and POS operators arrested by security agencies during the polls, which indicted the PDP guber candidate.

Adebutu was said to have applied for the Verve cards from Zenith Bank on February 27, 3023 two days after the presidential election which the PDP lost by a wide margin in Ogun State, following which the cards were delivered to him by his relationship officer in the bank.

Investigation further revealed that contrary to Adebutu’s claim that the cards were issued during his mother’s burial, they were actually issued few days to the election, raising the obvious question of collusion by Zenith Bank with a politically exposed person to perpetrate electoral fraud.

Also, the statements by some of Adebutu’s polling agents that were arrested confirmed that he gave them the cards to manipulate the March 18 polls.

The sources described Adebutu’s actions , using game-betting platforms and POS operators, as well planned, carefully orchestrated and unprecedented electoral fraud made out of desperation after losing the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Adebutu and his agents were said to have

distributed the cards throughout the over 5000 polling units and positioned POS operators at the same so each voter could convert the card to cash at the POS terminals.

The cards were said to have been funded on the 16th and 17th of March directly from Adebutu’s account with Zenith Bank, with the lawmaker paying over N2.4bn directly from his account.

Said a source: “Checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that the foundation in whose name the PDP candidate carried out his criminal activities were fictitious.

“We have it on good authority that following a petition written to security agencies over the incident, it was observed that Adebutu expended huge sums to manipulate the March 18 2023. governorship election in Ogun State.

“Hon Adebutu caused prepaid Verve cards preloaded with N10,000 each and bearing such inscriptions as Dame Caroline Oladunni Adebutu Empowerment Scheme, Dame Caroline Scheme and “Dame Caroline Oladunni Adebutu Memorial Endowment Scheme, to be printed under the guise of honouring his late mother, but it was a vote buying gimmick, and these cards were used to buy votes on March 18.

“Luck, however, ran out on him when party agents and POS operators who were used to perpetrate the deliberate manipulation of the electoral process were arrested by the security agencies and made statements that indicted him.

“The financial institutions that collaborated with him have revealed that he contacted them to create the cards which were delivered to him two days to the governorship election.

“It was when he observed that all these things had come into the open that he suddenly disappeared into thin air in order to evade justice.”

The security sources, which accused the PDP lawmaker of violating Sections 121 and 127 of the Electoral Act (2022) which expressly forbid vote buying, said that it was regrettable that Adebutu had flagrantly violated laws meant to sanitize Nigeria’s electoral process.

Politics

15th Hijrah: Muslim Clerics Task Nigerians On Good Morals

Published

8 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Sahara Weekly

15th Hijrah: Muslim Clerics Task Nigerians On Good Morals

– as Speaker charges religious leaders on impactful messages

Nigerians, irrespective of religious affiliations, must begin to embrace good morals and practise honesty, two guest lecturers at the 15th Annual Hijrah Lecture of the Lagos State House of Assembly, have urged.

This is as the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, also charged Nigeria’s religious leaders to teach messages with greater positive impacts on citizens.

Sheikh Sulaiman Onikijipa Al-miskinubilahi, general overseer of Al-Amani Islamic Organisation, and Sheikh Ridwanullah Jamiu, Chief Imam of the Central Mosque, Lekki Phase 1, said moral conducts and honesty would help create a decent society.

Speaking at the event with the theme: ‘The Increasing Wave Of Moral Decadence In The Society’, which held at the Assembly complex on Friday, the guest lecturers condemned the spate of moral decadence in the society.

Dr. Jamiu told guests that there was need to enforce laws against anti-decent practices like homosexuality, gambling, adultery and corruption.

According to him, Allah blesses those who are kind, just and are morally upright.

“People should run away from three things: indecency, aggression and wickedness. For a society to progress and develop, it must move away from what Allah kicks against.

“Justice means giving people their rights. As a boss, you have duties to your employees. Treat others the way you expect to be treated. Allah commands kindness and generosity,” he said while urging parents to be role models to their children.

On his part, Sheikh Onikijipa lamented what he described as a growing level of corruption in the society.

“At this stage of our existence, we all know that almost everyone is corrupt,” he said while urging leaders to be more transparent.

The cleric further stressed that leaders must be determined to end moral decadence in the society, adding: “See the way the government stopped the abuse of naira with necessary legislation. The same should be done for other forms of moral decadence in the society.

“There is no religion if we don’t have morals. If you observe all the five pillars of the Islam and you are morally corrupt, then you are deceiving yourself.

“If you pray regularly and you don’t have morals, then it is a waste of time. Indecent dressing should be condemned in all places,” he said.

While noting that Nigeria is challenged at the moment, Onikijipa appealed to citizens to be patient with the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

He urged religious leaders and citizens in the country to dedicate a day for fasting and prayer instead of embarking on a protest, which has a tendency to escalate into destruction of properties.

In his remarks, Speaker Obasa said everyone has roles to play in achieving an upright society.

Obasa, who said that Hijrah is meant to celebrate the clerics, added: “You would be proud of the group you belong to when people feel your impact. We should ensure that we change our immediate environment and make things better in our time.

“We must all join hands to make our society better so that we can all have a morally upright place. It is not enough to make laws, people must exhibit good qualities.”

Eromosele Ebhomele
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Politics

Planned Protest: Tinubu, Sultan, Ooni, NSA, IGP In Emergency Meeting

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Planned Protest: Tinubu, Sultan, Ooni, NSA, IGP In Emergency Meeting

The protest against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, has been scheduled to be held across all states in August.

As the planned ‘EndBadGovernance’ protest slated for August draws close, President Bola Tinubu on Thursday entered an emergency closed-door meeting with top traditional rulers, security top brass in his government and governors of his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The high-delegation meeting was held at the State House in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The APC governors were led to the meeting by the Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma.

Some first-class traditional rulers were spotted at the meeting with the President. They include the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi; the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III; and other traditional leaders across the country.

The meeting was also attended by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu; Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; as well as ministers and other members of the President’s cabinet.

A delegation of Islamic scholars (Ulamas) later joined the high-powered meeting with the President.

Last-Minute Efforts
Tinubu, former Lagos governor, who was sworn in as President in May 2023, has appealed to displeased youths to shelve the planned ‘EndBadGovernance’ protest slated for next month.

As part of moves to placate aggrieved citizens, the President sent a bill to raise the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 to the National Assembly this week. Both chambers of the legislature speedily passed the bill on Tuesday, awaiting the President’s assent.

On Thursday, the military authorities warned that unscrupulous elements plan to hijack the protest and use it to stage anarchy like what was recently witnessed in East African country Kenya.
The police had also warned against bloody demonstrations come next month just as Uzodimma surmised that the protest could be hijacked and turn violent like the EndSARS nationwide protest against police brutality back in October 2020.

The protest against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, has been scheduled to be held across all states of the Federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in August. The organisers of the protest have been faceless.

Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.

Politics

Tinubu mourns Iwuanyanwu

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Tinubu mourns Iwuanyanwu

President Bola Tinubu has extended his condolences to the family of the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who passed away on Thursday.

Tinubu’s condolence message is conveyed in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, titled ‘President Tinubu mourns Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.’

The family confirmed his demise on Thursday evening in a statement that partly read, “The Iwuanyanwu family of Umuohii Atta, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, announces the demise of our patriarch, Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu-Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo.

“Chief Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday, July 25, 2024, after a brief illness. He was aged 82.”

He was an accomplished businessman and notable politician.

Ngelale said, “President Tinubu condoles with the Imo State Government, the friends and associates of the deceased, and Ndi Igbo over this irreparable loss.

“The President affirms that Chief Iwuanyanwu will always be remembered for his remarkable legacy.”

Tinubu, therefore, prayed for the repose of the soul of the departed elder statesman and comfort for his family