A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Bwari , on Tuesday, invalidated the nomination of Sen. Ademola Adekele as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the September 2018 Osun Governorship Election.
Justice Othman Musa, in his judgment held that Adeleke was not qualified to run for the office of governor.
Recall that two Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb had few days to the Osun governorship election, approached the court for an order to disqualify Adeleke on the premise that he lacked the requisite educational qualification to contest for Governor.
They had claimed through their lawyer, Mr. Bankole Akomolafe, that Adeleke did not sit for the WAEC examination in 1981 since there was nothing like the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination as at then.
They also claimed that NECO examination which Adeleke claimed he sat for could not be genuine as the body was not created as at the time the defendant said he sat for the examination.
Adeleke, is currently representing Osun West Senatorial District in the Upper Chamber at the National Assembly.
Justice Musa, after going through the evidence before ruled that Adeleke did not have the minimum educational qualification prescribed in section 177 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, noting that the section stipulated that candidates vying for governorship position must be educated up the secondary school level.
Justice Musa said that whereas there was evidence that Adeleke entered secondary school in 1976, there was no record to show that graduated as his name was not found in the school’s register from 1980.
He therefore held that the result Adeleke attached to the form CF001 he used to secure clearance from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was fake.
The court held further that the result was different from the one presented to the court by the principal of Ede Muslim High School, Ede, Osun State, where Adeleke purportedly graduated from.
Consequently, the court held that his nomination to participate in the September 22, 2018, governorship election was bound to be nullified.
Meantime, Adeleke had vowed to Appeal against the judgment invalidating his nomination for the Osun governorship poll.
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Reacting through his lawyer, Mr. Nathaniel Oke, SAN, Adeleke insisted that the Judge erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice against him.
He alleged that Justice Musa went beyond what was presented before the court by the parties and on his own sourced the evidence he relied on arrive at a unjust conclusion in the matter.
He said he was confident that the verdict would be overturned by the Court of Appeal, as he insisted that he has the requisite educational qualification to occupy the Osun State governorship seat.
Recall that the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had in a split judgment on March 22, declared Adeleke as the valid winner of the governorship election.
