Osun 2018: Again, 2 party members drag Adeleke to court over primary

Two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in Osun state have filed a suit at an Osogbo High Court challenging the candidacy of Sen. Ademola Adeleke as the party’s flag bearer in the Sept. 22 governorship election.

The suit filed on Monday by Mr. Oyetunji Suredi and Mr. Olagboye Adedamola is coming on the heels of Justice David Oladimeji’s judgment which dismissed a similar suit against Adeleke. The suit dismissed by Oladimeji was filed by Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu.

In the fresh suit, the plaintiffs are seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining Adeleke from parading himself as the candidate of the Osun PDP over alleged forged school certificate. They are also asking the court to make an order to restrain the state’s party Chairman, Mr. Soji Adagunodo, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from further recognising the defendant as the candidate of the party.

The duo are further seeking an order mandating the party chairman and INEC to replace Adeleke’s name with that of  Akin Ogunbiyi, the runner-up in the party’s primary. The plaintiffs alleged that Adeleke had presented a forged document as part of the purported proof of his academic qualifications. No date has been fixed for the hearing.

 Oladimeji had earlier dismissed a similar case against Adeleke, stating that the constitution does not require the defendant to pass his secondary school examination to contest elective position. Olabayo and Idowu  had  contended  that he did not satisfy the constitutional requirements to contest the governorship election. 

The plaintiffs, among others, had urged the court to set aside the election on the grounds that Adeleke did not submit his secondary school certificate. Although the judge in his Aug. 8 judgment held that the documents presented by Adeleke contained damaging errors, he noted that it could be addressed separately since the plaintiffs did not include it in their prayers. Adeleke had won the primary after he garnered 1,569 votes to beat his closest rival,  Ogunbiyi, who polled 1,562.

NAN/Vanguard