Falsification Of Certificate: Constituents Ask Court To Order Adeleke To Refund Salary, Allowances

The Federal High Court Abuja was on Friday asked to decide whether Ademola Adeleke still qualified to be a serving Senator having been found guilty of forging the Secondary School Certificate he used in contesting the election.

Adeleke won the supplementary election on the platform of the PDP to close up the vacant Osun West Senatorial District Seat created by the demise of his elder brother Sen. Isiaka Adeleke in 2017.

This is contained in a suit FORmarked FHC/ABJ/CS/462/2019 and filed by two electorates from Osun West Senatorial District and a copy which was made available to newsmen by their Counsel, Mr Ola Fatai Adeosun in Abuja.

NAN confirmed that the other respondents joined in the suit are the Peoples Democratic Party, the Senate, Senate President and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The court is asked to decide whether with the combined provisions of Sect. 65 (2) (a) of the Constitution and judgment of the FCT High Court delivered April 2, Adeleke still qualified to occupy the seat.

They prayed for an order for the court to direct Adeleke to refund all salaries, allowances and other emoluments so far collected from the coffers of the Federal Government with immediate effect.

The plaintiffs prayed for another order of perpetual injunction restraining Adeleke from further parading himself as a senator representing Osun West Senatorial District.

Justice Othman Musa of the FCT High Court had in that judgment declared the Secondary School Certificate presented by Adeleke to INEC as fake. The Ede Government High School Testimonial Certificate attached by Senator Ademola Adeleke to his INEC Governorship Nomination Form was issued 20th July, 1988 under the Letter Head of Ede Muslim Grammar School. P. O. Box 6, Ede, Osun State of Nigeria when Osun state was not in existence. And both the statement of result collected in year 2018 and the testimonial issued in 1988 were signed by the same principal, and more evidently there were inconsistency of facts in the exhibit presented by the principal as against the one attached to the nomination form concerning the said statement of result.

The plaintiffs further prayed that if the above question was in the negative, the court should decide whether the combined effect of the stated provisions of the constitution and the judgment nullified Adeleke’s position as senator.

They also prayed the court to decide whether the combined effect of the above provisions with the judgment, the first defendant could still draw salaries from the Senate.

The plaintiffs, therefore, said if the three questions raised were answered in the negative, the court should declare Adeleke unfit to contest the July 2017 Osun West Senatorial District election.

They also urged the court to declare the participation of the first defendant and his eventual declaration as to the winner of the election as null, void and of no effect.

The plaintiffs further urged the court to declare that the continuous representation of the first defendant in the Senate as the senator representing Osun West Senatorial District as illegal, null and void.

In the light of the above, the plaintiffs asked for an order to direct INEC to withdraw the certificate of return already issued to the first defendant as the elected senator representing Osun West Senatorial District at the Senate.

They also asked for an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the Senate and the Senate president from further recognizing and dealing with Adeleke as the senator representing Osun West Senatorial District of Osun State.