The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and address Governor Dapo Abiodun’s alleged conduct, which he claims threatens the nation’s democracy.
Speaking during a media parley in Abeokuta, Adebutu accused Governor Abiodun of mismanaging N214 billion allocated for the development of Ogun State’s 20 Local Government Areas over the past five years. He further alleged that the governor is using security agencies to intimidate him because of his advocacy for transparency and accountability.
Adebutu stated, “President Bola Tinubu should call Governor Abiodun to order because the way the governor has conducted himself in the last week, particularly over the LG poll, is quite condemnable.
“If under a Yoruba presidency, the President will sit down and watch his people being killed and maimed because they want to exercise their franchise and vote for the candidates of their choice, it will be very sad. The truth is that the governor is destroying whatever goodwill is left of the APC in the Southwest.
“The reason they have been pursuing me and want to shut me up is because they are stealing the local government money. They don’t want the stealing of our patrimony to stop.”
The Ogun State government swiftly dismissed Adebutu’s allegations as “the rantings of a drowning man.”
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, the state government described Adebutu’s claims as baseless and a desperate attempt to mislead the public.
Akinmade said, “We do not find it shocking that a man who aspired to govern Ogun State but was roundly rejected by voters would claim that a governor who is not a signatory to local government accounts squandered council funds amounting to N214bn in five years.
“That means, conceptually, that the said local governments did not pay any salaries and did not execute any projects in those five years, and it says a lot about a governorship candidate whose own running mate described him as a complete disaster.
“The fact is that at no time did Governor Abiodun touch a dime of LG funds in Ogun State, but Adebutu has to entertain his crowd.”
The exchange marks another chapter in the ongoing tension between the PDP candidate and the ruling APC-led administration in Ogun State.
