Charges had been brought before the court against Mr. Adebutu and the other defendants in the case by the federal government.
Mr Adebutu was finally charged in absentia on Monday as he has been out of the country since shortly after the 18 March poll.
The invitation to appear before the police in connection with the allegations of electoral misconduct and money laundering for which he has been arrested was not honored by him.
On the day of the election on March 18, the claims were brought up in a petition that was sent to the Inspector General of Police by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. The petition was directed against Mr. Adebutu and the PDP, which is the party he belongs to.
Following the investigation of the petition submitted by the state chairman of the APC, Yemi Sanusi, to the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice filed criminal charges against Mr. Adebutu and the other defendants. The petition was written by Yemi Sanusi, the state chairman of the APC.
Justice Abiodun Akinyemi had earlier adjourned the matter till 10 July owing to the inability of the court’s process servers to serve Mr Adebutu and his co-defendants with the information sheet.
Despite this, when the case was called on Monday, Mr. Adebutu was nowhere to be found, while the second, third, fourth, fifth, and tenth defendants — Ogunbona Hammed, Tiamiyu Waleed, Egunsola Owolabi, and Sanni Adejoke, respectively — were in attendance.
They entered not guilty pleas to each of the four charges, and their attorney, Muyiwa Obanewa, later requested that the court release them on bond. The attorney who is in charge of prosecuting the case, Rotimi Jacobs, did not object when the accused were allowed to post bail. After that, Justice Akinyemi granted the accused persons bail in the amount of N100,000 with one surety apiece.
According to the charge sheet of the case with no AB/10C/2003 dated June 2, Mr Adebutu and the other defendants face a four-count charge. A single offense of criminal conspiracy in violation of section 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, a single count of bribery in violation of section 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, and two separate charges of undue influence in violation of section 127 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
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According to the particulars of the offense, Mr. Adebutu and the other co-accused "on or about the 18th of March at Ibara, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to corruptly give gifts in the form of verve prepaid cards which had inscribed on them 'Dame Caroline Oladunni Adebutu Memorial Endorsement Scheme for Less Privileged' in order to induce voters to endeavor the return of PDP candidates during the
Mr. Adebutu was also accused of distributing 200,000 prepaid verve cards loaded with N10,000 each and engraved with the same name "for the purpose of corruptly influencing voters to vote for PDP candidates" during the elections in question. These cards were allegedly inscribed with the same name.
Mr. Adebutu was defeated by Governor Dapo Abiodun of the APC in the race for the governorship, and he is currently pursuing his petition against the outcome of the vote before the electoral petition tribunal in Abeokuta.
On the grounds of alleged electoral malpractice and the poll's non-compliance with the electoral regulations, Mr. Adebutu and the PDP urged the tribunal to overturn Mr. Abiodun's victory and declare the election null and void.
At the tribunal, the candidate for the PDP had also accused Mr. Abiodun and the APC of vote buying; however, the court did not consider this allegation because it was not included in the petition that they had submitted.
After that, the judge decided to postpone the hearing on the case to the 26th of September.
