Court nullifies Adeleke’s nomination for Osun guber polls over certificate forgery

An FCT High Court sitting in Bwari has nullified the nomination of Senator Ademola Adeleke as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the September 2018 governorship election in Osun state.

Two members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, had in 2018 sued Adeleke, accusing him of not possessing the requisite educational qualification (secondary school certificate) to contest for the office of governor.

Delivering judgement in the suit on Tuesday, Justice Othman Musa annulled Adeleke’s nomination on the grounds that Adeleke offended section 177 of the 1999 constitution as amended. The section stipulated that candidates for the position of governor must be educated up to secondary school level.

The judge held that 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 further 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.