The Ogun State Police Command has invited Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in 2023 elections, to its headquarters in Abeokuta.
This invitation is unconnected with the alleged disturbances during the local government elections held on November 16, 2024, in which the All Progressives Congress won all seats.
Though the Command is yet to confirm the development, reports have it that he is still being held at the Police Command headquarters in the Ogun State capital.
He is accused of allegedly recruiting around 40 unauthorized police officers from Lagos and coordinating PDP thugs to disrupt the local government election.
This latest invitation comes barely a day after operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) quizzed the PDP governorship candidate.
Upon his release on Tuesday, Adebutu described the allegations as baseless and the arrest as an attempt to silence him.
“It was about 7 am, Tuesday, 19th November 2024, I was released by the Department of State Services in Abeokuta following an invitation to answer to various spurious accusations all arising from the November 16 Local Government election in Ogun State,” Adebutu said in a statement he personally signed.
“Very sadly, the allegations were so baseless that it became clear that their purpose was to silence me as a voice of the opposition. My contention that those elections were not free and fair is my fundamental right to free speech and free thought,” he said.
“My thinking that the Local Government should have financial Autonomy that can only be enforced by free and fair elections is germane to our development. Mr President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, shares the same view as mine which shows it is not a partisan position but a nationalistic one,”
