An official of Zenith Bank, Mrs. Celestina Appeal, who serves as the Head of Card Services of the bank, appeared as a witness on Monday before the governorship election petition tribunal in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
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The bank official was subpoenaed in relation to allegations of vote-buying through preloaded ATM cards, which were leveled against Oladipupo Adebutu.
Counsel to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, had previously informed the panel that they submitted two letters to Zenith Bank in February seeking clarification on how Adebutu opened a special account for this action with the bank and requested the issuance of 200,000 preloaded ATM cards, each containing N10,000, just days before the March 18 gubernatorial election.
The witness began presenting her evidence by submitting a certified true copy of a letter written by Oladipupo Adebutu to Zenith Bank on February 27, 2023, two days after the Presidential Election that the PDP lost. In the letter, Adebutu requested to open an account for the production of 200,000 ATM Verve cards, each containing N10,000, totaling two billion naira.
She also presented another certified true copy of a letter written by Adebutu to the bank on the same date, February 27, 2023, requesting the issuance of the 200,000 ATM Verve cards.
Furthermore, she tendered records of the delivery and collection of the prepaid ATM cards to Adebutu, along with a sample of the card. Additionally, she presented a statement of the account opened in the name of Oladipupo Adebutu, which indicated inflows and outflows from February to May 2023, as well as a Certificate of Compliance.
The second and third witnesses who appeared before the panel were Mr. Odesanya Olalekan, an artisan from Ijebu North East, and Adeosun Waheed, a businessman from Abeokuta North. Both witnesses confirmed the distribution of the preloaded ATM cards by PDP members on the day of the election.
The second witness provided a copy of the preloaded card (marked RA13), while the third witness, Waheed, under cross-examination by counsels to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Afolabi Fashanu, SAN, and Kunle Kalejaiye, SAN, respectively, confirmed that the preloaded ATM cards were distributed by Adebutu, popularly known as Baba Ijebu, and had the inscription of Mrs. Caroline Adebutu, the mother of the PDP candidate.
The witness testified that members of the PDP disrupted the voting process in their resistance to the use of the BVAS in the election.
Meanwhile, counsel to the petitioners, Gordy Uche, expressed his decision to reserve his objection on the tendering of various documents and letters, including the collection and delivery of the cards, to his final address.
He also objected to the tendering of the copy of the cards shared by the petitioner on the day of the election but postponed the details of his objection to the point of final address.
Counsel to the 2nd respondent (Gov. Dapo Abiodun), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, then applied for an adjournment, stating that the next witness would need to come and demonstrate some documents. He informed the court of his decision to close his case on Tuesday.
The tribunal ruled to accept the copy of the subpoena and marked it as exhibit RA5. The letter tendered by the 1st witness, requesting for ATMs by Adebutu, was admitted as exhibit RA6, and the letter of deposit of N2 billion was marked as exhibit RA7.
The tribunal further stated that since all the questions were direct and the witnesses answered directly, there was no need for re-examination. The case was adjourned until Tuesday for the continuation of the hearing.
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