The problems of Senator Ademola Adeleke, the embattled candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Osun State gubernatorial poll seems to be compounding by the day.
Why? This is because the plaintiffs in the suit filed against his eligibility on Monday told Justice David Oladimeji that the testimonials and statement of result submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission and the court by the defendants are forged documents.
The plaintiffs, Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwasegun Idowu had informed the court of the possibility of an out-of-court settlement of the case at the last sitting of the court but an agreement on this could not be reached as the court continued with the hearing of the case.
The counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr. Olufemi Ayandokun, had in his response to the notice of preliminary objection filed by the defendants told the court that his clients had filed a nine-paragraph affidavit dated August 3, 2018, and attached two exhibits marked G.E 1 and G.E 2.
Ayandokun said, “We stated in our affidavit that the documents he presented to the INEC and the court are forged documents. In exhibit 2 marked G.E 2 that is the purported school testimonial of Ede Muslim Grammar School, we want your lordship to take notice of the date on the testimonial, July 20, 1988. We also want the court to take note that Osun State was created in 1991.
“The testimonial was issued on 20th July 1988 and it had on it Ede Muslim Grammar School, Osun State. We urge the court to take note that Osun State was not in existence as at the time the purported testimonial was issued.
“The testimonial stated that the first defendant completed the SSCE when that examination had not started in 1981. The 6-3-3-4 was yet to be adopted as at 1981. There was no SSCE as at 1981 when he purportedly sat for the examination. The document is a lie.“Another testimonial and statement of the result were issued by another school, Ede Muslim High School to the same person dated 24 July 2018. That was after he had been screened by the party.”
The plaintiffs’ counsel argued further that his clients had locus to institute the case because Section 31( 5) of the Electoral Act empowered them to question candidacy of the first defendant.
He urged the court to dismiss the notice of preliminary objection as grossly lacking in merit and urged the court to uphold his submission.
Earlier, the counsel for Adeleke; the PDP as well as Prince Uche Secondus, who is the National Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Edmond Biri-Omoni, had prayed the court to dismiss the originating summons and interlocutory injunction.
He told the court that the plaintiffs admitted in their affidavit that the first defendant ( Adeleke) was educated up to secondary school level which was the provision of Section 177 (d).
Biri-Omoni argued further that his client did not need to have distinctions in all the subjects he sat for while stating that the testimonial was an evidence that he had a secondary school education.
He said the secondary school which his client attended had not come out to disclaim the testimonial and the statement of result which he presented to the INEC while urging the court to discountenance the argument of the plaintiffs.
Credit: punchng.com
