Osun 2018: Court dismisses suit against Adeleke’s candidature

A high court sitting in Osun has dismissed a suit challenging the eligibility of Ademola Adeleke as  candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 22 governorship election in the state.

Adeleke, a serving senator, won the PDP ticket in a keenly contested election in July.

But Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu, members of PDP, asked the court to revoke his candidacy on the grounds that he lied about one of his certificates.

They urged the court to restrain PDP from presenting him to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as candidate of the party.

They also urged court to restrain INEC from accepting Adeleke from PDP as its candidate on the basis that the senator was not qualified, quoting section 177 (d) of the 1999 constitution.

But in his ruling, David Oladimeji, the presiding judge, said the claim of the plaintiffs was not strong enough to disqualify Adeleke from contesting the election.

Oladimeji said the constitution did not state that a candidate for the office of the governor must possess a certificate.

He added that the constitution only stipulated that the candidate must be educated up to secondary school level and that the plaintiff also admitted that the senator attended Ede Grammar School.

The judge struck out the case thereafter.