NEWS: Alleged certificate forgery: Court reportedly nullifies Adeleke’s nomination for Osun gov poll

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Justice Oathman Musa of an Abuja high court reportedly nullified Adeleke’s nomination as PDP candidate in the 2018 governorship election over allegations of certificate forgery – Justice Musa said there was no record to show that Adeleke actually graduated from secondary school, though the court’s findings showed that he was admitted in 1976 – Senator Adeleke’s legal team has, however, vowed to appeal the judgment A high court sitting in Abuja has reportedly nullified the nomination of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the September 2018 governorship election in Osun state. Recall that two chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, had in 2018 dragged Adeleke to court, accusing him of not possessing the requisite educational qualification (secondary school certificate) to contest for the office of governor. They prayed the court for an order to disqualify Adeleke from participating in the governorship election in the state on the grounds that he does not possess the requisite educational qualification.

ThisDay reports that Justice Oathman Musa, delivering judgment in the suit on Tuesday, April 2, annulled Adeleke’s nomination on the grounds that he violated section 177 of the 1999 constitution as amended. The section stipulated that candidates for the position of governor must be educated up to the secondary school level. While the court’s findings showed that Adeleke entered secondary school in 1976, there was no record to show that he actually graduated as his name was no longer seen in the school’s register from 1980, Justice Musa reportedly said. The judge also allegedly stated that the result Adeleke attached to his form CF001 which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was fake, as it was found to be different from the one presented to the court by the principal of Ede Muslim High School, Ede, Osun state. However, Adeleke’s lawyer Nathaniel Oke SAN has reportedly faulted the court judgment the grounds that the judge erred in law by going out of his way to source for evidence to arrive at his “unjust conclusion”. Oke submitted that the court erred particularly when it ignored WAEC evidence that Adeleke was educated up to Secondary School level as required by law.

Expressing confidence that the judgment cannot stand at Appeal Court, Oke disclosed that they will immediately commence filing of their appeal against the judgment. The West African Examination Council (WAEC) had during the court’s proceedings reportedly confirmed that Adeleke sat for the May/June examination of the council in 1981. The council in an affidavit deposed to by one Osindeinde Adewunmi and filed at the registry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court confirmed that Adeleke sat for the Senior Secondary School exams in May/ June 1981. According to ThisDay, the confirmation was contained in a four-paragraph affidavit filed in compliance with the order of Justice Oathman Musa requesting the examination body to confirm whether the governorship candidate sat for the 1981 exams. However, in arguing their case the plaintiffs in through their counsel, Bankole Akomolafe, on Sept 11 claimed that the PDP candidate did not sit for the WAEC examination in 1981 because the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination had not been introduced in the country as at then.

They further alleged that the NECO examination he claimed to have sat for could not be genuine because National Examination Council (NECO) had not been established at the time Adeleke claimed to have sat for the examination.