Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was qualified to contest the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State.
A three-man panel of the court unanimously ruled in its judgement on Thursday.
Adeleke and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had appealed the April 2, 2019 judgement of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which declared Adeleke ineligible to contest the election.
The FCT High Court said it disqualified Adeleke on the grounds that he forged his secondary school credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2018.
Reading the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal Thursday, Justice Emmnuel Agim held that the suit which the lower court ruled on, having not been filed within 14 days after Adeleke’s Form CF001 was submitted to INEC or 14 days after his name was published as a candidate in the September 2018 election, by virtue of Section 285 of the Constitution, had become statute-barred.
Agim also said that the failure of the FCT High Court to deliver its verdict within 60 days of filing of the suit had rendered the lower court’s judgement a nullity.
He also awarded the cost of N3 million against the plaintiffs who instituted the suit before the FCT High Court — Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb.
The Court of Appeal also held the affidavit evidence of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and result ledger attached to it showed that Adeleke sat for the May 1981 WAEC examination at Muslim Grammar School, Ede.
Agim said that by virtue of Section 177 of the Constitution, by merely writing the examination and without passing any paper, Adeleke was qualified to contest the governorship election.
