ABEOKUTA– Former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in the last general election, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu has described the arrest and detention of his aide, Gafar Asaolu as misuse of political office.
Asaolu was arrested and arraigned before the court in connection with an alleged disruption of the last local government election in the state.
He has since been granted bail.
The former lawmaker, in a statement made available to newsmen stated that haven access the copies of statements of actors in the alleged disruption, no mention of his aide was found in any.
He however lauded the judiciary in protecting the rights of his aide, who according to him was an innocent citizen who was only a victim to score cheap political points.
“It is without gainsaying that the last few weeks has been a period of unprecedented abuse of political office.
“I seize the opportunity to extend my courtesies once again to the judiciary in protecting the rights of an innocent citizen of Nigeria, my Personal Assistant and protege, Gafar Asaolu.
“We have diligently obtained the Certified True Copies (CTC) of all the statements made by the actors in this matter for adjudication and it is clear that Gafar Asaolu was at no time mentioned as an assailant.
“Somehow and for reasons best known to the police, they allowed themselves to be used in usurping the rights of an innocent citizen by unnecessarily concocting charges that were not in consonance with the reality of the event that transpired on November 16th, the day of the Local Government Elections
“While I will not want to delve too much into this matter now for fear of being subjudice, it must be said that we appreciate the Court in its wisdom, acknowledged that this matter was essentially political because the facts already ascertained will make it difficult to detain Gafar Asaolu for the prolonged period that he had already been detained”, he said
Adebutu however queried the state government in the handling of the local government funds, saying that the opposition party will not be cowed to remain silent.
“The issue is we dare ask what happened to hundreds of Billions that accrued to the third tier of Government. Two hundred and Fourteen Billion naira in 52 months, that records are available.
“The desperation to conceal this information and perpetuate the wanton rape of resources of the third tier drives the machiavellian tendency to keep control of the Local Governments by all means has taken this dimension.
“We will not be cowed or coerced into silence, we will not retreat from our role today as the opposition party, we will continue to ask questions in the hope that we can stimulate for the benefits of our democracy for our people with the expectation that we can arrive at a transparent, moral, just and good governance in Ogun State”, he added
