The Abuja division of Court of Appeal, hascon Thursday ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was eligible to contest the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Emmnuel Agim awarded the cost of N3m against Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, the plaintiffs who instituted the suit before the FCT High Court who were respondents to the appeals filed by Adeleke and the PDP.
Adeleke’s and PDP’s appeals had challenged the April 2, 2019 judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which had declared Adeleke ineligible to contest the election on the grounds that he forged his secondary school credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2018.
The three-man panel 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 was a nullity.
But the Court of Appeal also held 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.
Justice Agim held that 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.
