Osun 2018: Two PDP Members Drag Adeleke To Court Again Over Forgery

Two Peoples Democratic Party members in Osun have filed a suit at an Osogbo High Court challenging the candidacy of Sen. Ademola Adeleke as the party’s flag bearer in the September 22 governorship election.

The suit filed on Monday by  Mr Oyetunji Suredi and Mr Olagboye Adedamola is coming on the heels of Justice David Oladimeji’s judgment which dismissed a similar suit against Adeleke.

The suit dismissed by Oladimeji  was filed by  Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu .

As reported by THE PUNCH, In the fresh suit, the plaintiffs are seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining Adeleke from parading himself as the candidate of the Osun PDP over alleged forged school certificate.

They are also asking the court to make an order to restrain the state ’s party Chairman, Mr Soji Adagunodo,  and the Independent National Electoral Commission from further recognising the defendant as the candidate of the party.

The duo are further seeking an order mandating the party chairman and INEC to replace Adeleke’s name with that of  Akin Ogunbiyi, the runner-up in the party’s primary.

The plaintiffs alleged that Adeleke had presented a forged document as part of the purported proof of his academic qualifications.

The News Agency of Nigeria  reports that no date has been fixed for the hearing.

NAN  recalls that Oladimeji had earlier dismissed a similar case against Adeleke, stating that the constitution does not require the defendant to pass his secondary school examination to contest  elective position.

Olabayo and Idowu  had  contended  that he did not satisfy the constitutional requirements to contest the governorship election.

The plaintiffs, among others, had urged the court to set aside the election on the grounds that Adeleke did not submit his secondary school certificate.

Although the judge in his August 8 judgment held that the documents presented by Adeleke contained damaging errors, he noted that it could be addressed separately since the plaintiffs did not include it in their prayers.

Adeleke had won the primary after he garnered 1,569 votes to beat his closest rival,  Ogunbiyi, who polled 1,562. (NAN)