TWO voters in Osun West, presently being represented by Senator Ademola Adeleke, have initiated move to recall him following an Abuja court’s judgment that he has no secondary school certificate.
Akinwale Olaniyi and Akinjide Monsuru from Egbedore and Irewole local government areas, in Osun West, said they were misled into voting Adeleke during the July 8, 2017 senatorial election, because he claimed to have lived his adult life in America.
Olaniyi and Monsuru have filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to sack Adeleke as a senator on the grounds that he allegedly lied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about his academic credentials by purportedly presenting a fake secondary school testimonial to INEC.
Adeleke was elected a senator in 2017 as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PFP) following the demise of his senior brother, Isiaka Adeleke, who represented the district until his sudden death in 2017.
Olaniyi and Monsuru stated, in the suit filed on April 26, that they voted for Adeleke at the election because he claimed to have lived and schooled in the United States of America.
The plaintiffs said they felt let down, fooled and were devastated when a High Court of the Federal High Court (FCT) in Bwari, Abuja found, in a judgment delivered on April 2, 2019, that Adeleke presented fake credentials to INEC for the election.
They are praying the court to declare among others, that, by the provisions of sections 65(2)(a)of the Constitution and 31(6) of the Electoral Act and the judgment of the FHC High Court, Adeleke was not qualified to have contested the senatorial election.
The plaintiffs also want the court to void the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the said election in view of the court judgment and the provisions of sections 65(2)(a)of the Constitution and 31(6) of the Electoral Act.
They want the court to order INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke, and to give a perpetual order of injunction, restraining Adeleke “from parading himself as a senator representing Osun West.
The plaintiffs equally want the court to order Adeleke to refund all that he earned while he occupied the seat and to restrain the Senate President and the Senate form further recognising Adeleke as a senator.
Olaniyi stated, in a supporting affidavit, that “one of the selling points of the 1st defendant (Adeleke) during the campaign was that he had resided in the United States of America for most parts of his adult life, and he actually returned therefrom to represent my senatorial district at the 3rd defendant (the Senate).
“Myself and the 2nd plaintiff (Monsuru) believed honestly that the 1st defendant must have been well-educated in the United States of America, hence, we voted for him at the elections to represent us at the 3rd defendant despite not being members of the 2nd defendant (People’s Democratic Party).
“I was shocked to the marrow when a neighbour informed me, while in the company of the 2nd plaintiff on April 22, 2019, that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, holden at Court No. 13, Bwari, Abuja, in suit No: FCT/HC/BW/CV/ 122/2018 had delivered a judgment, wherein the Secondary School testimonial attached to the Form CF001 submitted by the 1st defendant in the course of his aspiration to become the governor of Osun State was fake, and that the 1st defendant was not qualified, based on same, to contest for the position of governor, as provided by our laws.”
In a statement by one of his lawyers, Niyi Owolade, Adeleke stated that “the purported voters, who filed the suit are proxy forces” of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
Adeleke accused Oyetola and the APC “of waging futile legal harassment following signs of an imminent end to their usurpation of Osun governorship seat.
“The initial judgment that this irritating suit is based on has been widely condemned, especially as the document wrongly declared as forged was duly issued by the authorities of the school.
“It is in public domain and court records that the school Principal deposed to an affidavit confirming the testimonial and statement of results were duly issued by the school.”
The suit has not been listed for hearing.
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