Senator Ademola Adeleke has reacted to Tuesday April 2nd judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, nullifying his candidacy as the PDP governorship candidate in the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State.
The court which was presided over by Justice Othman Musa of the FCT High Court in Bwari, Abuja, nullified Ademola’s candidacy over allegations of certificate forgery.
Reacting to the judgement, Adeleke in a statement released today, described the judgement as “flawed and a travesty of justice.” He indicated that his lawyers are at the moment working to appeal the judgment.
Faulting the judgment, Adeleke said, firstly, there has been two different court judgements delivered in September 2018 which held that he Adeleke satisfied all requirements of the law to contest for the office of the governor. He stated that the Tuesday judgment breached the “precept” that “once a court of coordinate jurisdiction has ruled on a matter, court of similar jurisdiction cannot entertain it.”
The statement added that the judge “erred in law by failing to take note of the expiration of 180 days for ruling on pre-election matters.”
I“Even when a December 2018 judgment with respect to the issue was presented, the judge chose to ignore it. We note that the judge violated the law by adjudicating over a matter whose filing and hearing period had expired.”
The statement went on to add that the judgment ignored the evidence produced by the West Africa Examination Council which listed “all students who sat for the May/June examination in 1981 alongside the senator, in addition to the certified true copies of his school certificate result.
“From the evidence produced by the Council, it is crystal clear that Senator Ademola Adeleke was, indeed, educated beyond the minimum requirement of ‘up to secondary school level’ as stipulated by law and therefore qualified to run for the office of governor in accordance with Section 177 (D) of 1999 CFRN (as amended). Not withstanding, the judge still went ahead to rule otherwise.
“The only statutory body empowered by law to determine authenticity of a secondary school results is the West African Examination Council and they confirmed the authenticity of Senator Adeleke’s result by producing a CTC of the same result. What evidence did the judge therefore base his ruling on?” the statement read
He added that it as wrong for the judge to conclude that he forged the senior secondary school statement of result which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Adeleke explained that having been shocked by the evidence produced by WAEC showing that he sat for the May/June 1981 examinations, the plaintiffs, again, went on to have the principal of the school to appear in court to confirm the authenticity of the statement of results.
“The principal appeared and confirmed that the statement was genuinely issued by the school and that any error noticed on the statement was that of the school, not that of Senator Adeleke. The school did not, at any point, disown the statement of results. From the foregoing, we affirm that the judgment of the Bwari court is a travesty of justice, a purchased ruling designed to negatively affect the outcome of Osun governorship judicial process. We declare unequivocally that the ruling, being so glaringly against tested facts and the law, cannot stand. It is also clear that the ruling cannot, in any way, stop the reality that Senator Ademola Adeleke fulfilled constitutional requirements to be Governor of Osun State.
We appeal to our numerous supporters and good people of Osun State to remain calm. This is another failed bid in the efforts of detractors and enemies of democracy. Senator Ademola Adeleke is not only qualified but by the grace of God will soon be sworn in as the legitimate Governor of Osun State.” the statement read
