Ogun PDP scribe, Solarin confirms party ‘empowered’ voters on election day

…says N10,000 credit cards in the name of Madam Caroline Adebutu a philanthropic gesture

By Kolawole Olayinka, Abeokuta

Ogun State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Sunday Solarin, has confirmed that the party’s governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, distributed pre-paid credit cards with N10,000 to empower voters during the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.

Solarin, who confirmed this on a live interview on Silverbird Television, disclosed that the credit cards with the inscription ‘Caroline Oladuni Adebutu Memorial Endowment Scheme’ and loaded with N10,000 each were meant to empower the people of the state.

Security agents, including police and operatives of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), had at different locations intercepted and seized hundreds of the pre-loaded credit cards from PDP agents along with hundreds of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) on the election day.

The cards brazenly distributed across the polling booths in the 236 wards of the state were allegedly used to entice voters into voting for the PDP.

But the election was won by Governor Dapo Abiodun, who polled 276,298, while the PDP candidate, Adebutu, scored 262,383 votes to come second, thus trailing the winner with 13,915 votes, while Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) polled 94,754 votes to come third.

However, Adebutu and his supporters cried foul, claiming the election was “won” by him. 

On the other hand, the APC accused Adebutu of engaging in massive vote-buying, using credit cards designed in his late mother’s name.

Speaking during the television interview, which also featured the state APC Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, Solarin argued that the credit cards were not meant for vote-buying but empowerment of the people.

He stated that the Adebutu family is known for its philanthropic gestures, stressing that the credit cards were given to the people as a form of financial empowerment in memory of late Mrs. Adebutu.

Solarin, however, said he was not aware that party agents were arrested with the cards on the election day, insisting that INEC erred by declaring Governor Abiodun the winner.

Oladunjoye, while speaking on the programme, said the APC won “fair and square” despite the massive vote-buying and other electoral infractions engaged in by the opposition party.

The APC scribe, who displayed one of the credit cards on the show, carpeted Solarin for being economical with the truth by feigning ignorance of the heinous electoral infractions committed by his party on the election day.

While advising Adebutu and the PDP to stop chasing the shadow, the APC spokesperson said Governor Abiodun was declared winner of the poll having satisfied the constitutional requirement as stipulated in the Electoral Act.

He further lampooned Adebutu and the PDP for embarking on a “show of shame” by mobilizing hoodlums to the INEC head office in the name of submitting a petition.