For Governor Ademola Adeleke, there is uncertainty that his mandate would be restored by appeal court following the confirmation of a certificate forgery by the Osun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Recall that Mr Adeleke was on Friday, Jan. 27, sacked as governor of Osun state by a panel led by Justice Terste Kume.
The Tribunal directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to him and his deputy, Kola Adewusi, both of whom had been sworn in.
The governor was declared the winner of the June 16, 2022, with a total of 403,371 votes. He was said to have won in 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.
Mr Oyetola on the other hand won 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes. Not pleased with the development, the immediate past governor approached the tribunal, claiming that the election was marred by over-voting in 749 polling units among other discrepancies.
Justice Kume led tribunal held that the governorship election was characterized by over-voting. So, after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Mr Oyetola polled at the election was 314,921 and Mr Adeleke polled 290,666.
In the judgement obtained by Battabox, our reporter discovered that the only member of the tribunal, Justice B.A. Ogbuli, who gave a dissenting ruling, aligned with the position of the majority judgement on the issue of certificate, saying Mr Oyetola cousels were able to prove a case of forgery against Governor Adeleke.
“On page two of exhibit EC9, the 2nd respondent (Adeleke), in his handwriting, wrote under School Attended (Educational qualification with dates: Ede Muslim Grammar School, Ede – attended 1976 – 1981, Penn Foster High School Diploma – 2021, Higher Atlanta Metropolitan State College – BSC Criminal Justice 2021.
Although, there is a letter of attestation from Ede Muslim High School dated 22nd of May, 2016, learned counsel for the petitioners (Oyetola and APC), as referred to the different names in the schools reproduced above and the evidence admitted under cross-examination, that Osun State was created in 1991, and as such, any evidence that a qualifying certificate or document stating that it was from Osun State in 1981 is a forgery.
The tribunal, however, held that the forgery case was not enough to disqualify him from contesting the election, adding that the PDP candidate had acquired additional qualifications.
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What the law says
Section 66 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria supports the disqualification of any candidate who presents a forged certificate to the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mr Adeleke in 2018 forged the secondary school testimonial produced to INEC but deliberately omitted it for 2022 election.
Meanwhile, the supreme court in a case of Saleh v. Abah (2017) held that forgery of certificate for the purpose of election is not restricted to that current election.
The court held that the relevant question is weather the accused ever presented a forged certificate to INEC at any (pervious or current) elections, and not whether or not it was listed or omitted from the declaration form completed for a particular election.
“Following the previous judgement, the Tribunal ought to have disqualified Adeleke, having established forgery case against him,” said Tunde Alimi, a constitutional lawyer.
Also in a case of Wabu v Gololo, the court of appeal held that the tribunal was wrong when it held that a person who is proved to have presented forged documents to INEC and so disqualified under Section 66 of the Constitution may still be qualified to contest in another election so long as he holds a School Certificate or its equivalent under Section 65 of the Constitution.
Since the tribunal established that Mr Adeleke forged a document, it may no longer be a question of whether he met the basic requirements to contest as cited in the appeal court judgement above.
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‘Many lies of Adeleke‘
Recall that Mr Adeleke was also found to have lied in 2018 that he obtained a diploma in a U.S. varsity, during the preparation for the Osun Governorship election.
The former senator’s profile on the National Assembly website, also claimed he bagged a Diploma in Criminology from Jacksonville State University (JSU) and graduated in 1986.
But the the Director of Public Relations at the university, Buffy Lockette, punctured the claim, saying that although Mr Adeleke enrolled at the tertiary institution, he was not awarded any degree.
A check done on the governor’s O’ level result with the West African Examination Council using examination number 19645/149 as circulated also showed “result not available for this candidate in the specified year and exams diet.”
