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ALLEGED CERTIFICATE FORGERY:
Adeleke appeals court judgment
•He wasn’t in exam hall — NECO supervisors
•Court adjourns hearing till June 10
•Osun deserves better than Adeleke — APC
By Gbenga Olarinoye
& Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
A
BUJA—THE
A d e m o l a
A d e l e k e
Campaign Organisation,
yesterday, vowed to appeal
the judgement of a Bwari
High Court in a case of
forgery against Senator
Ademola Adeleke and his
qualification to contest in the
governorship election of
Osun State.
The organisation, in a
statement issued by Mr
Niyi Owolade said: “We
received with bewilderment
the judgement of a Bwari
High Court on allegation of
forgery against Senator
Ademola Adeleke and his
qualification to contest the
governorship election of
Osun State. The judgment
subverted justice by
ignoring four critical
evidences to rule against
validated facts and
submissions.
“While we are set to
appeal the judgement, we
also find it compelling to put
the records straight by listing
out the fatal flaws in the
ruling and why it cannot
stand before any court.
“We affirm that the
judgment is a travesty of
justice, a purchased ruling
designed to negatively
affect the outcome of Osun
governorship judicial
process.
“We
declare
unequivocally that the
ruling being so glaringly
against tested facts and the
law cannot stand. It is also
clear that the ruling cannot
in anyway stop the reality
that Senator Ademola
Adeleke fulfilled
constitutional requirements
to be governor of Osun
State.
''This is another failed bid
in the efforts of enemies of
democracy. Senator Adeleke
is not only qualified but by
the grace of God will soon
be sworn in as the legitimate
governor of Osun State.”
Adeleke wasn’t in exam
hall — NECO supervisors
This came as the Federal
High Court sitting in Abuja,
yesterday, adjourned further
hearing on the examination
malpractice charge the
Nigerian Police Force,
levelled against Senator
Adeleke, till June 10.
The Police, had in a sevencount
charge entered before
the court, alleged that
Adeleke, candidate of the
PDP, in the last
governorship election in
Osun State, fraudulently
registered and sat for the
June/July 2017 Senior
School Certificate
Examination that held in
February 2017.
In the amended charge
captioned FHC/ABJ/CR/
156/2018, and dated
VISIT: From left; Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State; Chairman, Medical and
Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso chapter, Dr. Rasak Akindele; past chairman,
Dr. Fasanu Adeniyi and former secretary, Dr. Ajayi Wale, during a courtesy visit by
the executives of MDCAN to the governor in his office, Abere, Osogbo yesterday.
December 15, 2018, Police,
maintained that the
Defendants, committed
examination malpractices
by fraudulently, through
impersonation, registering
Adeleke and his brother,
Sikiru, as students of Ojo-
Aro Community Grammar
School in Osun State, for the
National Examination
Council, NECO, June/July
2017 SSCE.
The prosecution
produced four witnesses to
testify in the matter.
Cross examinations
At the resumed trial,
yesterday, NECO
Supervisor, Mr. Odesola
Emmanuel, who appeared
as the third prosecution
witness, PW-3, told the court
that out of 58 candidates that
sat for the 2017 exam, he
did not see the two Adeleke
brothers (Ademola and
Sikiru).
The witness, who told the
court that he supervised
candidates that sat for
Economics, added that
though Ademola’s name
appeared in the NECO
Register as No 057, he was
not sighted in the
examination hall.
While being crossexamined
by Adeleke’s
lawyer, Dr. Alex Iziyon,
SAN, the PW-3, noted that
in the absence of a photo
album, he would not be able
to identify each of the 58
candidates that sat for the
NECO exam with identity
cards that were issued to
them by the exam body.
Similarly, the PW-4, Mr.
Adigun Enoch told the
court that he never saw the
PDP flag-bearer in the hall.
Enoch told the court that
he was the invigilator that
supervised the candidates
in four subjects.
He identified Sikiru, who
was in the dock as one of
the candidates that sat for
the June/July 2017 SSCE
examination, saying he
only knew Ademola as a
public figure in Osun State,
not as a candidate for any
of the subjects he
supervised.
Two witnesses that earlier
testified in the matter,
Buhari Moshood and
Isamotu Funmilayo, who
were equally supervisors
during the said
examination, also denied
seeing the Senator in the
exam hall.
Led in evidence by the
prosecution counsel, Mr.
Simon Lough, the first
witness, PW-1, Moshood,
told the court that on June
21, 2017, while acting as
supervisor, he saw five
matured men among the
students billed to participate
in the NECO Exams.
The PW-1, who identified
an exam paper bearing the
name of Adeleke Ademola,
insisted that he did not see
the defendant on the seat in
the exam hall, saying he did
not challenge the adult
persons in the examination
hall because it was not his
duty to do so.
While being crossexamined
Senator
Adeleke’s lawyer, the
witness said he would be
surprised to see NECO
issuing certificate to
somebody who did not sit for
the exams.
On his part, the PW-2,
Funmilayo, who claimed to
have been a teacher for 13
years, told the court that she
supervised English
Literature on July 17, 2017,
and that she saw two
matured men in the exam
hall but could only identify
Adeleke’s brother as one of
them.
Under cross examination,
the witness also denied
seeing Senator Adeleke in
the exam hall.
She further told the court
that the result of the exam
belonging to Senator
Adeleke, where he scored
C5, was shown to her by the
police at the State
Investigation and
Intelligence Bureau,
Oshogbo, Osun State.
The second witness
further told the court that
the authorities of the school
have the duty to register
students for the exams.
Osun deserves better
than Adeleke — APC
Meanwhile, the All
Progressives Congress,
APC, in Osun State has
reacted to the verdict of an
Abuja High Court which
disqualified Ademola
Adeleke from contesting the
state governorship election
of 2018.
The party described the
“verdict as a victory for the
state, because Osun
deserves better than an illeducated
juvenile as its
governor.”
The APC, in a statement
by its Director of Publicity,
Research and Strategy
Kunle Oyatomi said: “Long
before independence, this
state has produced
intellectual giants and
exceptionally brilliant
businessmen and
technocrats including jurists
of international standard.
“We’re too civilised to have
an Ademola Adeleke as
governor who presented a
fake statement of results of
the secondary school he
attended and is currently
under investigation for
another NECO certificate
forgery allegation.
“The court judgment
therefore corroborated what
we have known all along
that this young man is best
suited for the dance floor of
a discotheque rather than
the intellectually high
demand of running
Government Secretariat at
Abere.
“We hope the Appeal
Court handling Osun
governorship dispute will
take judicial notice of this
judgment that has
practically disqualified
Ademola Adeleke from the
governorship position.”
Face-off between Olubadan,
Ibadan chiefs deepens
By Ola Ajayi
I appears BADAN—THERE
to be no end
in sight to the festering
crisis between Olubadan of
Ibadanland, Oba Saliu
Adetunji and members of
Olubadan-in-Council, as
the high chiefs accused the
monarch of enjoying some
of the benefits of the review
of Olubadan chieftaincy
declaration, which made
them kings.
The promoted kings said
asking them to remove
their crowns was
hypocritical because it was
the same chieftaincy review
that promoted Olubadan to
Royal Majesty which
Olubadan cherishes that
also made them crown
wearing kings.
The monarch’s call,
according to Otun
Olubadan, Oba Lekan
Balogun was tantamount
to casting aspersion on the
review of the law
governing traditional
institution in Oyo State.
Oba Adetunji had asked
the members of the council
to remove their crowns
before they would have
access to the palace.
However, the Obas
argued that Olubadan did
not address any of the
allegations against him
like “non-screening of
prospective Mogajis and
Baales by the council before
installation, the cash and
carry manner by which
people now get positions of
Mogaji and Baale.”
The Ibadan Obas further
argued that events had
overtaken the court
judgment the monarch
referred to as they had filed
an appeal and that the
issue of review of the
traditional law in the state
had since been embraced
by other cities and towns.
“The same reform which
conferred on us the new
titles of His Royal Majesties
and Highnesses also
elevated the Olubadan to
His Imperial Majesty from
Royal Majesty which the
Olubadan proudly adorns.
So, what makes our own
wrong and his own right?”,
they asked.
S’West PDP disowns Adewale
as Lagos party chairman
By Dayo Johnson
A National
KURE—THE
Vice
Chairman South West of
the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, Dr. Eddy
Olafeso, yesterday,
disowned Segun Adewale
as the Lagos State
chairman of the party.
Olafeso, in a statement in
Akure, said Adewale “did
contest the last Ekiti State
governorship election on
the platform of ADP,
therefore, to that extent, he
is still a member of that
party as far as we know.
“We take due cognisance
of a statement by Mr.
Segun Adewale to the effect
that he is now the chairman
of PDP in Lagos State and
thus, declare firmly that he
is not a member of our Party
in all ramification, and thus
cannot in all seriousness be
our State Chairman in
Lagos.
“PDP is a very structured
Party governed by set down
laws and not one where
any upstart can walk into
and take mantle of
leadership at will.
“For the avoidance of
doubt, Segun Adewale is
not a member of our Party
and remains absolutely
extraneous to us,
particularly in Lagos State.''