Adebutu Meets British High Commission, Seeks Institutional Redress

By Adejoke Adeleye

Hon Oladipupo Adebutu, a former House of Representative member, has met with a delegation of the British High Commission in Nigeria with the leadership of the Ogun State’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The reason for the meeting which lasted for an hour was not made known to newsmen as the Deputy High Commissioner, Lagos, Harriet Thompson who led the delegation declined to speak to newsmen.

Meanwhile, the Governorship aspirant of the PDP in Ogun State, Hon. Ladi Adebutu who led the PDP delegates addressed newsmen after their 1-hour closed-door meeting.

Speaking in Abeokuta, Adebutu said that the Commission was worried about the state of the nation and met with them as members of the opposition party to discuss the way forward.

Adebutu who was a member of the 8th House of Representative disclosed that the delegates came for an interactive session to know how Nigeria is working and what roles we (the opposition party) are playing in the workings of Nigeria and how can we move the country forward.

“We have just had a visit from the British High Commission in the person of the Deputy High Commissioner. They came for an interactive session to know how Nigeria is working and what are the roles we are playing in the workings of Nigeria and how can we move the country forward.”

“Quite naturally, it is obvious that they are the creators of the country we see today, the Nigeria we see today, the sovereign state is a creation of Great Britain and as such, as a member of the Commonwealth, we truly believe that they have concerns for our tomorrow because obviously, our success will be their success and of course, God forbid, any failures will have, will ultimately be a liability to them because they cannot really have 200 million refugees heading to the United Kingdom and I’m not sure they really desire that.

“They are desirous of helping us build a stable, progressive, forward and just society,” he said.

The former lawmaker said it was unfortunate that the judiciary had been operating under the fangs of the executive and expressed the urgent need for institutions in the country to be strengthened.

“There is a desperate need to strengthen our institutions. Our institutions must be allowed to function, devoid of threats, devoid of corruption.

“We saw the Supreme court yesterday in the Great Britain where 11 judges unanimously went against the position of the government. That is institution working, we must work such that our institutions in Nigeria should work. We must work such that we prevent presidencies that will come in to question our future existence”, he said.

“We must gradually work towards a system where people can genuinely, legally pursue the ambition and aspirations through a peaceful and legitimate means.

“If you shut the doors to peaceful coexistence, peaceful expression of opinions and positions, then you are deliberately calling on people to act in ways that are different from this. We do not want anarchy, people must feel safe and secured to pursue their agenda,” he added.

The meeting was also attended by the factional State party Chairman, Hon. Sikirulai Ogundele and all the Senatorial Chairmen of the party.

Meanwhile, efforts to know more about the reasons the British Commission visited the opposition party of the existing government proved abortive.