Ogun PDP Chairman and INEC Officials Arrested Over Alleged Vote-Buying in By-Election

Security operatives in Ogun State have arrested the Chairman of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abayomi Tella, along with other party officials and two officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during the ongoing Remo Federal Constituency by-election.

The arrests took place in the early hours of Saturday at a hotel in the Iperu-Remo area of Ikenne Local Government, where a large sum of money was reportedly found in their possession.

A viral video circulating on social media shows the two INEC officials—a male and a female—alongside PDP officers, squatting as they were interrogated by security operatives. The interrogator alleged that the INEC officials had received money from the politicians to facilitate vote-buying during the election.

In the footage, the male INEC official admitted that he was instructed by a supervisor to collect cash from the politicians. However, Tella, who identified himself in the video as “a PDP official in Ogun State,” denied any involvement in vote-buying, saying: “You are just showing money; I don’t know anything about it.”

Meanwhile, the PDP has condemned the arrest, describing it as a plot to intimidate its members and undermine their participation in the by-election.

In a statement, the party’s Director of Media and Communications, Asiwaju Akinloye Bankole, claimed that Tella was arrested around 3:30am in what he described as a “commando-style operation.” He maintained that the PDP chairman was in his hotel room with his driver and an aide when he was taken away by security operatives.

Bankole further insisted that contrary to circulating reports, Tella had only ₦100,000 in his room and was not found with electoral materials or large sums of money. He also distanced Tella from the arrested INEC officials, stating:

“The chairman does not know the INEC staff arrested. It is practically impossible for him to lodge in the same hotel room with an INEC official. He was only carrying out his responsibility as state chairman of the party under whose watch this election is being conducted.”

The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, has confirmed that the command is investigating the alleged arrests of Tella and the INEC officials, as well as the money recovered, suspected to have been intended for vote-buying.