The senator representing Osun West senatorial district, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, has until August 1 to produce his secondary school certificate or risk being declared unfit to be the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the upcoming Osun State gubernatorial election.
An Osun State High Court gave the order for Adeleke to produce his certificate while ruling on an ex-parte motion brought by Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu on Thursday.
The duo, who are challenging the right of the candidate to represent the party, urged the court to disqualify him for allegedly not possessing a secondary school certificate as stipulated by Section 177(d) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, Justice David Oladimeji held that it would amount to making a mockery of the court by hastily declaring the candidate unfit on the grounds of not possessing a secondary school certificate if he is not given enough time to produce the certificate.
The judge therefore ordered Adeleke to produce the certificate before the court by Wednesday, August 1.
“It will be inequitable not to allow the respondent to come and show his certificate, if he has any. But if given the opportunity to present his side of the case, the balance, which is necessary for interlocutory injunction, would be adequately considered,” the judge held.
However, Adeleke has blamed “fifth columnists” for being behind the plot to see him disqualified from representing the party at the September 22, 2018 poll.
Recall that two days to the PDP governorship primary election, a group, Renewal Youth Movement, had threatened to drag Sen. Adeleke to court if he did not produce his WAEC certificate within 24 hours.
In a statement signed by two of its leaders, Muftau Adegoke and Rasheed Adegbenro, the group said, “Senator Adeleke is not a private person. He is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Osun West Senatorial District and he is one of the 11 aspirants seeking the PDP ticket. We cannot therefore keep mute as if nothing was going on.
“The claim was that Senator Adeleke has no WAEC certificate and that he was recently held and later released by the State Security Services (SSS) in an attempt to use a pseudo person to help him write his WAEC examination at Alajue Grammar School, Ede. Is it true? Can that be the case?
“If he has WAEC certificate as he claimed, he must bring it out now. There is no shame in that. If not, why was he claiming that he possessed one?”
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