Osun Guber 2018: Appeal Court affirms Adeleke’s Eligibility

In a unanimous judgement by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was qualified to contest the September 2018 governorship election under the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State.

Justice Emmnuel Agim, who read the lead judgment of the three man panel of the Court of Appeal, awarded the cost of N3m against the plaintiffs, Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb who instituted the suit before the FCT High Court.

Earlier in April 2nd, 2019, the Abuja High Court had declared Adeleke ineligible to contest the election on the grounds that he forged his WAEC result submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2018, after which Adeleke and PDP challenged the verdict at the Appeal court.

FCT High Court had also ruled base on the evidence before the court that Adeleke is a dropout of the Ede Muslim Grammar School in Ede, Osun State, and that made him unqualified under Section 177(d) of the Constitution to contest governorship election held in 2018 in Osun State.

Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled that the suit, having not been filed within 14 days after Adeleke’s Form CF001 was submitted to INEC or 14 days after his name was published as a candidate in the September 2018 election, the suit filed before the FCT High Court, by virtue of Section 285 of the Constitution, had become statute-barred, and that the failure of the FCT High Court to deliver its verdict within 60 days of the filing of the suit had rendered the lower court’s judgment a nullity.

Merely writing the examination and without passing any paper, Adeleke was qualified to contest the governorship election by the virtue of Section 177 of the constitution, Justice Agim held.