Adeleke qualified to contest Osun gov election, Appeal Court rules

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was qualified to contest the September 2018 Osun State governorship election.

In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the appellate court upheld the appeals by Adeleke and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the judgment of an FCT High Court which ruled that Adeleke was not legible to contest the election on the grounds that he forged his secondary school credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2018.

But, upturning the judgment, the Court of Appeal, held that the suit, having not been filed within 14 days after Adeleke’s Form CF001 was submitted to INEC or 14 days after his name was published as a candidate in the September 2018 election, the suit filed before the FCT High Court, by virtue of Section 285 of the Constitution, had become statute-barred.

The court also held that the failure of the FCT High Court to deliver its verdict within 60 days of the filing of the suit had rendered the lower court’s judgment a nullity.

The Appeal court equally ruled that the affidavit evidence of the West African Examination Council and result ledger attached to it showed that Adeleke was not a dropout but actually sat the May 1981 examination of the body at Muslim Grammar School, Ede.

According to the court, by virtue of Section 177 of the Constitution, by merely writing the examination and without passing any paper, Adeleke was qualified to contest the governorship election.

The Court subsequently awarded the cost of N3m against the plaintiffs, Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb who instituted the suit before the FCT High Court.