Mr Adebutu, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, is indicted for deploying two billion naira to induce voters across the state to vote for him and his party during the 18 March election, the police said.

“We have written our report and submitted it,” said Oladimeji Yomi, Ogun State Commissioner of Police. “The next step is for INEC and the Attorney General of the Federation to look into the report and determine how to proceed against the suspect,” 

The investigator said Mr Adebutu had yet to honour their invitation to respond to the allegation. “Obviously, we have written to invite him (Adebutu), he does not appear to be in a hurry to honour our invitation,” Mr Yomi said.

On 14 May, this medium published a report in which Mr Adebutu claimed he fled Nigeria over threats to his life. However, a police interim report stated that he had told police investigators, through his lawyers, following his invitation over the petition, that he was receiving medical treatment abroad.

According to our earlier report, Mr Adebutu ran into trouble on 18 March for allegedly using Verve ATM credit cards branded in the name of his late mother, ‘Dame Caroline Oladunni Adebutu Endowment Scheme,’ to buy votes in all polling booths.

Mr Adebutu is a household name in Ogun State, where he lost the governorship election in March after polling 262, 383 votes to return second behind Governor Dapo Abiodun of the APC, who polled 276, 298 votes. He has, however, filed a petition before the election petition tribunal to challenge Mr Abiodun’s return.