The Osun State High Court sitting in
Osogbo has dismissed the suit filed by two members of the Peoples
Democratic Party seeking to stop Senator Ademola Adeleke as the
governorship candidate of the party in the coming election in the state......
The plaintiffs, Rasheed Olabayo and
Idowu Oluwaseun, had filed the suit praying the court to restrain
Adeleke from being presented as the governorship candidate of the party
because he did not have the basic educational qualification required by
the constitution for anyone seeking to contest governorship election.
But Justice David Oladimeji, who
presided over the case – in the ruling he delivered on Wednesday, held
that Adeleke satisfied the requirement of Section 177 (d) of the 1999
Constitution as amended which stated that a governorship candidate must
be educated up to secondary school level or its equivalent.
The judge said even the plaintiffs
admitted in their affidavit filed before the court that Adeleke attended
Ede Muslim Grammar School now known as Ede Muslim High School.
Justice Oladimeji relied on the Supreme
Court judgment on a similar case between Terver Kakih v. PDP, 2014 and
Sections 318 (d) and 177 ( d).
He said with these authorities, a person
did not need to possess a secondary school certificate to be eligible
to contest governorship election but must have education up to secondary
school level, which Adeleke and the plaintiffs had proved.
Based on this, he said the PDP candidate was qualified to contest the September 22 governorship election holding in the state.
He said, “I hold that the first
defendant (Adeleke) needs not to pass the examination or posses the
certificate before he can contest the election. The plaintiffs’ case is
lacking in merit and it is accordingly dismissed.”
The judge, however, admitted that the
plaintiffs did not raise the issue of certificate forgery in their
originating summon and they could not bring same in their written
address no matter how brilliantly crafted it may be because a written
address could not be a substitute for it.
He stated, “The documents filed before
the court contain serious damaging irregularities. The purported maker
of the document should be called before they can be regarded as forged
documents.
“Allegation of crime in a civil case
needs to be proved beyond any reasonable doubt. I hold that the
plaintiffs have not pleaded or proved forgery not to talk of proving it
beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The judge had earlier resolved the issue
of jurisdiction of the court and locus standi of the plaintiffs against
the defendants while holding that the court had the competence to hear
the suit and the two plaintiffs, being financial members of the PDP, had
sufficient ground to institute the case.
Meanwhile, two delegates of the PDP had filed a fresh suit against Adeleke on the allegation of forgery.
The case was filed by Olagboye Adedamola
and Oyetunji Suredi over the testimonial and statement of results
presented by the senator to the Independent National Electoral
Commission, which they claimed were fake documents.
The applicants premised their suit on
Section 31 (5) and (6) of the Electoral Act 2010, which gave powers to
individuals to challenge in court any candidate who they suspected to
have presented fake documents or false affidavits to the electoral body.
The plaintiffs prayed Justice Oladimeji
for an abridged date for the respondents to appear after the service
within seven days instead of 21 days and the court order to allow them
to advertise all their applications in the national dailies.
In the new suit attached with seven
exhibits and a 37-paragraph affidavit, the plaintiffs sought seven
reliefs and asked the court to disqualify Adeleke from contesting the
election as the governorship candidate of the PDP.
They specifically asked the court to bar
Adeleke from the election “on account of ineligibility, false
information and submission of false documents to INEC.”
But Adeleke, while reacting to the court
ruling, appealed to the plaintiffs to join him in his bid to return the
PDP as the ruling party in the state.
He said this in a statement made
available to our correspondent in Osogbo by the Director of Publicity of
his campaign organization, Mr Rasheed Olawale.
“Today’s judgement is a divine window of
opportunity for all members of PDP in Osun State to unite under this
victory umbrella. I extend hands of fellowship and brotherhood to all
aggrieved party members including those who took me court. Let us move
forward.
“Political contest cannot be without
grievances. We, however, must act beyond personal interests to consider
the burden of leadership placed on all of us. Our followers are worried;
they are fed up with the bickering and mudslinging.
Now that all doubts
have been cleared and rumors laid to rest. Let us now commence the
active and arduous task of aggressive campaigning. We are all
stakeholders in this victory and the coming victory in September by the
grace of God!”
No comments: