The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke is qualified to contest for the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, having possessed the basic qualification of school certificate.
In a judgement delivered on Thursday, Justice Emmanuel Agim held that the earlier judgement of an FCT High Court in Bwari disqualifying Adeleke was done without jurisdiction as the matter was statute barred having been filed outside 14 days of the cause of action, and therefore null and void.
The appellate court also faulted the verdict of the high court, which was made outside the 180 days provided by law, having been delivered 208 days after filing.
The appellate court also held that the judgement, which did not allow fair-hearing for Adeleke to present his documents through WAEC, went ahead to disqualify him from the September 22, 2018 governorship election on the platform of the PDP, as a gross miscarriage of justice.
Justice Agim subsequently set aside the judgement of the lower court delivered by Justice Othman Musa and ordered the persons who brought the matter to the high court, Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb to pay N3million to Senator Adeleke as cost.
