Davido celebrates as Senator Ademola Adeleke wins at Court of Appeal

Davido has reacted to the news his uncle, Ademola Adeleke’s victory at the appeal court which ruled that he is eligible to contest in the Osun 2018 governorship election.Reading the lead judgment, Justice Emmanuel Agim of the Court of Appeal, awarded the cost of N3m against the plaintiffs who instituted the suit before the FCT High Court — Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb — the respondents to the appeals filed by Adeleke and the PDP.

Excitedly, Davido took to social media to express how joyous the news is to him.

“To God be the Glory !!! ONE MORE LAP TO GO !!! God you are truly Great !! @ademolaadeleke_01 Justice will prevail ! Thank You ! OSUN will be Happy Again !!! God go do am ! We keep praying”

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The message from Davido is coming a month after a Appeal Court in Akure has affirmed the eligibility of Ademola Adeleke to contest in the last Osun governorship election.

The judgement followed an earlier judgement of a High Court in Bwari, Abuja, which declared him ineligible to contest the election. The issue bordered on the controversy over Adeleke’s secondary school certificate submitted to INEC for the election.The lower court had ruled that the senator did not have a valid secondary school certificate and so failed to satisfy the minimum requirement for eligibility to contest the election. Adeleke and his legal team appealed the judgement.

The appeal court’s three-member panel of M.A. Danjuma (presiding); R.M. Abdullahi, and P.A. Mahmoud, allowed the appeal and upturned the judgement of the High Court in Abuja. The appellate court allowed the appeal on the grounds that the complainant, Awosiyan Kingsley, from Ife Central, lacked the locus standi. It also established a case of lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

The court also agreed with the appellants that the matter was status barred given the limitation of time of 14 Days within which a litigant on pre-election matters could institute a case or maximum of 180 days to hear and determine the case.

Although Adeleke’s counsel had raised these arguments before the Bwari High Court, the court still ruled against him. Reacting to the judgment, a counsel to Adeleke, Nathaniel Oke, said the latest judgment cancels the judgment of an Abuja High Court and renders its conclusion ineffective on the candidacy of Mr Adeleke for the September 2018 gubernatorial election.

He said the Abuja high court judgment had contradicted the Osogbo high court verdict by rejecting the testimony of WAEC, an examination body which in a sworn affidavit confirmed that Adeleke sat for its examination. He said the examination body also attached the result to the affidavit.