Abiodun begins his defense at the Ogun tribunal, and a witness admits to disrupting elections

The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, began his defense on Friday in the state Election Petitions Tribunal in the state's capital, Abeokuta.

After the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission both concluded their investigations into the petition submitted by PDP candidate Ladi Adebutu, Abiodun began his defense.

In the EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023 appeal, the PDP and Adebutu accused Abiodun and his party, the All Progressives Congress, of violating the Electoral Act and engaging in corrupt behavior during the state's March 18 election.

Adebutu concluded his case after calling 94 witnesses and providing more than 200,000 papers as proof, but INEC did not do the same.

Abiodun began his response to the petition when the tribunal started its session on Friday through its attorney, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN.

Jimoh Gbadebo, Abiodun's first witness, admitting to interfering with elections in seven out of 14 voting places in Ward 6 of the state's Sagamu Local Government Area.

Units 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, and 12, all in Sagamu, were the affected voting units, according to Gbadebo, the APC's ward collation agent.

He went on to say that the witness said that roughly four hours into the election, masked political thugs broke into the unit and disrupted the exercise by destroying the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, ballot boxes, and paperwork.

The same gang of criminals, he said, moved from one election disruption to the next in the seven units.

Gbadebo testified before the tribunal that the INEC ward collation officer recorded zero for all of the candidates in the election as a result of the disruption of the election.

I can't recognize them (the goons)," he stated. They were yelling "No BIVAS, No BIVAS" as they approached.