Five members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun state have questioned the eligibility of Senator Ademola Adeleke to contest the governorship ticket of the party for the September 22 gubernatorial election in the state.
The PDP members in a petition addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, alleged that Adeleke is not eligible to contest the ticket of the party because he did not meet up with the constitutional requirement of a potential governor.
According to the PDP members, the Administrative Secretary of the party at the State Secretariat, Osogbo refused to sign the received copy of the petition upon reading it on Thursday when they went to submit it to the state chairman of the PDP, Hon Soji Adagunodo.
The PDP members alleged that Adeleke did not complete his secondary school education at Muslim Grammar School, Ede, questioning his credentials submitted to the PDP for the screening of the governorship aspirants.
The petition was signed by Ahmed Haruna and Jacob Fasanya of polling unit 002, Ward 4, Ede-South local government, Buraimo Ayinde of unit 9, ward 01 Ede-North, Oyebola Akanji of unit 6, ward 02, Ayedaade local government and Yaqub Sumonu of unit 4, ward 3, Egbedore local government of Osun.
“We have got to know, and we have it on good authority that Senator Ademola Adeleke did not complete his secondary school education; and thus did not qualify to contest the gubernatorial ticket of the party.
“Part of the constitutional requirement for a governorship candidate in any political party is that he/she must also be educated to at least the School certificate level or its equivalent, according to Section 177 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
“The testimonial letter tendered by Senator Adeleke at the party secretariat for his screening is questionable and should be investigated by the party leadership, to avoid dragging the integrity of the party into the mud and taking it back into the old days of battered image.
“The consequences of fielding an aspirant with questionable credentials are severely high and detrimental; it is like committing a political servitude and playing into the hands of the All Progressives Congress-APC.
“We must alert the leadership of the party that ‘a person is disqualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if or she presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)”, by virtue of Section 182 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The petitioners also warned PDP of fielding Adeleke as the flag-bearer of the party, saying “the PDP should be wary of the Adeleke dynasty’s desperation to pocket our party and have unfettered control on the state resources when the PDP win the governorship election.”
Accusing Adeleke of bringing derision to the party since he became the senator with his ‘immature attitude’ in the public, the petitioner said it is unbecoming of a senator of the country to be dancing like commercial dancers in a party everywhere he goes.
“We write this letter in good faith and with total commitment to the progress and victory of our dear party in the forthcoming governorship election”, they submitted.
All effort to get in touch with Senator Adeleke or any of his family members proved abortive.
However, a chieftain of the PDP who did not want his name in print said: “This is a time of politics, you should expect petition from here and there. It is not what everybody says that you take serious at this time of political gimmicks. This is a time of frivolous and baseless petition, though I am not saying this one we are talking about is unfounded.”
Source: CityMirrorNews
