The vote-buying trial of the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, continued on Wednesday with the court admitting in evidence his bank account statements.
Adebutu is being prosecuted by the police before the Ogun State High Court in Abeokuta.
He is standing trial alongside five Ogun PDP chieftains before Justice Abiodun Akinyemi.
Their trial stemmed from a petition by the ruling All Progressives Congress, alleging that Adebutu induced voters during the March 18 governorship election by allegedly giving out 200,000 vouchers preloaded with N10,000 to prospective voters.
On Tuesday, a bank official, Celestina Appeal, who appeared as a witness for the police had testified that Adebutu ordered 200,000 prepaid cards some days before the election.
However, at the Wednesday proceedings, the defence counsel, Gordy Uche (SAN), opposed the move by the prosecution to tender Adebutu’s account statements as exhibits.
Uche argued that the documents could be admitted as exhibits because they were not certified.
He added that the prosecution failed to lay a proper foundation for the tendering of the documents as stipulated by Section 90 (1) (e) of the Evidence Act.
But the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), maintained that the documents had fulfilled all the legal requirements for admissibility by the court.
In a ruling, however, Justice Akinyemi agreed with Jacobs and admitted the bank statements as exhibits against Adebutu.
The trial judge further held that the prosecution witness had earlier in her testimony made reference to the certificate of compliance pursuant to Section 84 of the Evidence Act.
The judge, therefore, admitted the documents and marked them as Exhibits 21, 22 and 23.
He adjourned till May 2 for continuation of trial.
