Alleged Certificate Forgery: Adeleke Appeals Court Judgment

The Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation, yesterday, vowed to appeal the judgement of a Bwari High Court on allegation 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 in 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. Osun

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 seven-count 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 marked FHC/ABJ/CR/156/2018, and dated 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 has 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 exam, added that though Ademola’s name appeared in the NECO Register as No 057, he was not sighted in the examination hall. While being cross-examined 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’s 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 cross-examined 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 Paper 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 ill-educated 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 a Ademola Adeleke as governor who presented a fake statement of result 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 discoteque 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.”