Senator Adeleke charged to court for impersonation and examination malpractice

SENATOR Ademola Adeleke and four other people have been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja charged with engaging in examination malpractices involving his O'Level school leaving certificate.

Highly controversial, Senator Adeleke, the lawmaker representing Osun West Senatorial District, has been in the news since he stood for governor earlier this year. During the elections, it was alleged that the Ede-born senator did not possess the minimum requirements to stand for office as he did not possess the West African School Certificate as he did not sit for his O'Levels despite attending Ede Muslim Grammar School.

In August, Senator Adeleke was cleared by the Osun State High Court to stand in the Osun State gubernatorial elections after it dismissed a suit challenging his suitability filed by two rivals who stood against him in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries. Two of his opponents Rasheed Olabayo and Idowu Oluwaseun, had filed a suit asking the court to restrain Senator 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.

In its ruling, however, the court said that Senator Adeleke satisfied the requirement of Section 177 (d) of the 1999 constitution, which stated that a governorship candidate must be educated up to secondary school level or its equivalent. Citing past cases, the judge, Justice David Oladimeji, ruled that 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 Senator Adeleke and the plaintiffs had proved he did.

However, the matter is now back in court as Senator Adeleke; Sikiru Adeleke; Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau, a school principal; Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo, a registrar and Dare Samuel Olutope, a teacher have been formally charged. They face a four-count charge filed in the name of the Inspector General of Police.

Senator Adeleke and Sikiru are accused of fraudulently, through impersonation, registering as students of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Ojo-Aro, Osun State to enable them sit for the National Examinations Council (Neco) examination of June/July 2017. All the other three defendants were accused of aiding the commission of the alleged offence.

When the charge was read, they pleaded not guilty, following which their lawyers prayed the court to grant them bail pending trial. Alex Izinyon appeared for Senator Adeleke, while Nathaniel Oke appeared for Sikiru Adeleke and the first three defendants, on whose behalf bail applications were filed and argued, were granted bail by Justice I E Ekwo.

Messrs Ojo and Olutope, who were represented by Isaac Adeniyi on October 15 when the case earlier came up, were not represented by any lawyer yesterday and n bail applications were filed for them. However, during the proceedings, Mr Oke made an oral application for their bail, which the judge disallowed and insisted that a formal application be filed for them.

Ruling, Justice Ekwo ordered the remand of Messrs Ojo and Olutope in prison pending the hearing of their bail application. For Senator Adeleke, the judge granted him bail on self- recognition and directed that he should endorse a bond to always be available for his trial and ordered that he should deposit his passport with the registrar and must not travel out of the country without the permission of the court.

Unlike the show of solidarity exhibited by PDP leaders when former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose was recently taken to court, no prominent party member was in court yesterday. Senator Adeleke is still challenging the results of the Osun State elections in court, after Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress was declared the winner.