The duo alleged that Adeleke was a secondary school dropout and that the purported WAEC result being paraded by him is forged.
Ismail Omipidan and Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be at the crossroads over what would be its fate and that of its standard bearer, Senator Ademola Adeleke, should the court grant the prayers of his challengers today.
Adeleke, who currently represents Osun West senatorial district, was accused of parading a forged O’level result, shortly after emerging the candidate of the party.
First to challenge Adeleke were two members of the party, Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu.
In the suit filed on July 24, they sought an interlocutory order to set aside the election of Adeleke as the candidate of the party and to stop him from parading himself as one, insisting that he did not satisfy the constitutional requirements to contest the governorship primary.
But after a truce was reached, the case was withdrawn from the court. Following the withdrawal of the suit, the Presiding Judge, Justice David Oladimeji of Osun State High Court, dismissed the suit.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Abdulramon Okunade, told the court that his clients had reached an agreement to withdraw the suit and asked for an adjournment. However, the defence counsel, Mr. Nathaniel Oke, opposed the motion seeking adjournment, saying instead that the case be dismissed since the applicants had resolved to withdraw the matter.
Barely a week after the case was struck out, two other concerned citizens of the state, Wahab Adekunle Raheem and Adam Omosalewa Habeeb, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, to again seek Adeleke’s disqualification.
And by last week, the Presiding Judge, Justice O. A Musa, ordered Adeleke to appear before it today, to explain why he should not be disqualified from contesting this Saturday’s governorship.
The court also ordered the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to produce the ledger and serve all parties connected with the suit, a copy of the ledger containing the results of all candidates who sat for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination along Adeleke in the May/ June, 1981 in Ede, Osun State within five working days, commencing from last Friday.
The order of the court, followed a suit filed before it by Raheem and Habeeb, who are alleging that Adeleke was not eligible to contest this Saturday’s election in the state because he does
not have the “constitutional requirement. “ The court also ordered WAEC that the ledger must be accompanied with an affidavit deposed to by the headship of WAEC confirming or denying that Adeleke, a candidate with No 19645/149 sat for the SSCE exam in Muslim High School, Ede, actually sat
for the exam. Similarly, the court, also gave an order granting leave to the plaintiffs for a substituted service on Adeleke through the clerk of the senate and an order for abridging time of filling of processes and granting of accelerated hearing in the suit.
The duo alleged that Adeleke was a secondary school dropout and that the purported WAEC result being paraded by him is forged.
Daily Sun recalls that the plaintiffs had sought for an injunction restraining Adeleke from parading himself as the PDP candidate in the election and an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising and giving effect to the nomination of Adeleke as candidate of PDP.
Efforts to get Adeleke or any of his close associates to speak on the development proved abortive.
But sources close to the PDP told Daily Sun that “we are really in a state of confusion. Apart from the perception of people about him (Adeleke), this certificate thing is giving us headache. If the outcome of the court does not favour us, that is the end of this journey.
“There is nothing God cannot do. We are still very hopeful that this cup will pass us by. I agree with you, it is affecting the morale of our supporters. But if the outcome turn out to be in our favour, there will be a renewed vigour in the party and nothing will stand in our way to victory this Saturday,” one of the sources added.
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the PDP has debunked rumours making the round that Adeleke’s chances of contesting the Saturday’s governorship election in the state was being threatened following a litigation instituted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) before an Abuja High Court.
The state secretary of the party, Bola Ajao, said the rumour is a politically motivated one which cannot hold water. He said the party is not in anyway afraid of the likely outcome of the case before the court, as it is confident of the academic qualifications of its candidate.
According to him, “there is no anxiety by members of the party in the state. But the ruling APC is carrying the rumour to discourage our loyalists, knowing well that its days are numbered in the state. Our candidate had at different times won similar case instituted by members of the APC against him. He won the case at the state High Court in Osogbo, so we have no reason to entertain any fear over this matter again.”