Court Updates

Police Case Against Ademola Adeleke Suffers further Setback

Efforts to prosecute Senator Ademola Adeleke on trumped up charges of examination malpractices suffered early setback today as prosecution witnesses told the court that they did not see Senator Ademola Adeleke at the venue of NECO examination at Ojo Aro Community Grammar School.

The police had arraigned Senator Adeleke and four others on charges of examination malpractice,citing alleged commission of the offence at Community Grammar School Oju Aro in Osun state.

Dramatically ,one of the witnesses witnessed against the prosecution when he confessed that it was the police that showed him examination results with Ademola Adeleke written on them but he never saw the Senator or anyone like him in the examination hall to sit for the examination.

The two witnesses also contradicted the prosecution by insisting that Ademola Adeleke was never seen in or around the examination centre nor did he sit for the examination and that it was a surprise that they claim the senator was allocated examination results.

At the opening of the case today in Abuja, the prosecution called two witnesses namely Mr Odesola Emmanuel and Adigun Akintayo Enoch,the supervisor and invigilator respectively at the NECO examination held on June 20 2017 at the community school.

Odesola who testified that he was the supervisor at the venue confirmed that he did not see any of the defendants at the examination venue but that he noticed there are about four elderly students among the students.

He also identified an examination answer sheet with the name Ademola Adeleke written on it.

Under cross examination by counsels to Senator Adeleke; Alex Iziyon,SAN and N.O.Oke,SAN, ,the witness admitted that it is not reliable to identify age of a person by face as face is not an accurate measure of somebody's age.

Asked specifically whether he saw Senator Adeleke at the venue of the examination, the witness noted that the senator was not at the venue as he would easily recognise him being a public figure.

On the non-availability of school album for the examination, which would have clearly identified whether the Ademola Adeleke with the result was the Senator, the witness also admitted that it was NECO that has the responsibility to provide the album and not the school authority.

Asked whether he is surprised that somebody who does not write an examination got a result,the witness expressed shock too, noting that it is unusual for somebody who does not write examination to get results.

On whether any of the so called elderly people was here in the court,the witness said none of them was present at court.He made further startling revealation that he is not familiar with the handwritihgs of the students and that there were many results sheets

He admitted that since the examination was conducted, he was just seen the examination sheets all over again and cannot explained if anything has happened to them or not. Specifically, he said he cannot even recognise the handwriting

The second witness ,Adigun Akintayo Enoch however identified Mr Sikiru Adeleke but that he never saw Senator Ademoka Adeleke at the examination venue.

The witness opened up under cross examination that he stood by the statement he made to the police at Osogbo that he was just shown the examination scores for NECO by the police at Osogho police station.

The witness accepted that when the police showed him the NECO results for senator Adeleke at the police station, he was shocked .How a person who did not write examination get examination results was a surpirse to him,he said.

"it is strange to get results without writing examination.And I was shown the results at the police station",the witness said under cross examination by Alex Iziyon.

On Sikiru Adeleke,the two witnesses confirmed that he indeed has the school identification card and other requirements qualifying him to write the examination.

Cross examined by N.O. Oke SAN,the witness noted that once a student sat for examination ,he is entitled to the results. They also admitted that Sikiru was never caught engaging in examination malpractices during the examination.The witnesses also noted that the entire examination exercise was free of any malpractice.

The prosecution however sought adjournment of further hearing on the case citing other cases at the Supreme Court.

The matter was adjourned for further hearing till October 10th.

Adeleke’s nullification: Judgment cannot stand test of time – SANs

By . | Published Date Apr 3, 2019 13:19 PM-Daily Trust

Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, (SAN) have said that the FCT High Court judgment which nullified the nomination of Sen. Ademola Adeleke as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the September 2018 Governorship Election in Osun, cannot stand the test of time.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr Isreal Olondare (SAN) said that the judgment was not a sound one because the law stipulated that a person aspiring to any political office must be educated up to school certificate level.

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The ruling cannot stand the test of time because during the trial, it was the prosecution that subpoenaed the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to come and tender the result of Adeleke in court.

“They tendered the result and it was confirmed that he wrote the exams not withstanding that maybe he failed the papers.

"The constitution of Nigeria says that any person aspiring to office must be educated up to school certificate level it didn’t say that the person should have grade one or so on.

“Since there is evidence that he was educated up to school certificate level, he is qualified to contest,” the senior lawyer contended.
Moreover, he questioned the legality of the FCT High Court having jurisdiction to try a matter that arose from Osun state.
On his part, Mr Nathaniel Oke (SAN), a counsel to Adeleke said that they were grossly dissatisfied with that judgment and would appeal it before the close of business on Wednesday.
“We are appealing against it and before today expires, we will file our notice of appeal against that judgement because we do not agree with any of the reasons given.
“We contended that our candidate having brought a certified true copy of the result of the examination he took in 1981 as ordered by the court with supportive affidavit, that in itself is sufficient to say that he is qualified.”
According to Oke, you don’t have to pass the exam of WAEC before you can be qualified, the moment you make an attempt, is suffices, which is the requirement of the law.
Justice Oathman Musa of an Abuja High Court, Bwari Area Council of Abuja on Tuesday, nullified the nomination Adeleke as candidate of the PDP in the Sept. 2018 Governorship Election in Osun State.
Justice Musa annulled Adeleke’s nomination on the grounds that Adeleke offended Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The section stipulates that candidates for the position of governor must be educated up to secondary school level.
According to Justice Musa, while the court’s findings show that Adeleke entered secondary school in 1976, there is no record to show that he actually graduated as his name is no longer seen in the school’s register from 1980.(NAN)

the so called bwari judgement will never hold any water �