Vote-buying: Court admits PDP’s Adebutu’s bank statement as evidence

An Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta on Wednesday admitted Mr Ladi Adebutu’s account opening forms and his statements of account as evidence in the vote-buying and money laundering charges slammed against him.

Adebutu, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial election in Ogun State, and some members of his party are standing trial before Justice Abiodun Akinyemi.

Persecondnews recalls that an official of Zenith Bank, Celestina Appeal, had testified on Tuesday that Adebutu ordered for 200,000 prepaid cards from the bank few days to the election.

Counsel to the defendants, Chief Gordy Uche (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the documents on the grounds that the documents were not certified.and that no proper foundation was laid.

He also said the prosecution did not comply with Section 90 (1) (e) of the Evidence Act as regards entries made in a banker’s book.

Overruling the defendants’ counsel, the judge agreed with the prosecuting counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), that there is no legal requirement that private documents must be certified.

Consequently, the court held that the documents are private documents that require no certification.

The judge further held that the prosecution witness, Celestina Appeal, in her testimony had earlier made reference to the certificate of compliance pursuant to Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

Although, the documents are entries in a banker’s book, strict adherence to Section 90 (1) (e) is no longer necessary since the documents were electronically generated and not produced in ledgers as contemplated by the said section.

The documents were, therefore, admitted as Exhibits 21, 22 and 23 respectively.

Continuation of trial has been adjourned until May 2-3, 2024 and June 5-7, 2024.