"I may be killed" - Ogun PDP governorship candidate Ladi Adebutu raises alarm

Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ogun State, has expressed concern that he may be killed while seeking redress at the election petition tribunal.

Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after receiving 276,298 votes.

Adebutu finished second in the election with 262,383 votes.

However, the PDP claimed that INEC made the declaration in error because it failed to account for the 40,000 cancelled votes.

Adebutu led his supporters in a peaceful protest to the INEC office in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, requesting that the commission conduct a review of the election.

Addressing a Conference of Political Parties in Abeokuta yesterday, April 3, Adebutu said he had been warned to watch out.

He said he had intelligence that he should henceforth, avoid crowded areas, because he might be killed one day.

While saying he does not pray to die, the politician said he is confident that the mandate belongs to the PDP and the people, adding that it would be reclaimed even if he dies.

He said: “I’ve been warned that I should mind myself wherever I go, that I should not go to crowded areas because, maybe one day I will be killed.

“The truth of the matter is that it is a PDP mandate. I don’t pray to die, but it is a PDP mandate and it is the people’s mandate. I am sure it will be easy to reclaim even if they kill me.”

Adebutu added, “We are determined; if they want to kill us, it’s okay. They brought killers from Lagos to attack our candidate in Sagamu 2. Luckily, the man escaped through the balcony.”

He condemned “the attacks on PDP members in Ogun,” especially in Remo axis of the State, charging security agencies to stop turning blind eyes to the attacks on his supporters.

He charged Ogun people not to allow anybody to make them prisoners in their own towns and villages, stating that “we are all Nigerians.”

“If you continue to allow them to abuse your rights unabridged, you will become their prisoner. You must resist the abuses. I will not become a prisoner in Nigeria.

“They want to compel you to start hiding at home. I am not going to do that. I’m going to go everywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PDP candidate said the party has approached the tribunal to seek redress, expressing confidence that he would win at the tribunal.