As the Osun Governorship election draws nearer, the intrigue within the Osun state chapter of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party is increasing as several party members refuse to accept the candidature of Senator Adeleke as the flag bearer of the PDP when elections commence.
There has been a lot of furore generated within the party pertaining to the primary and secondary school certificates of the Senator with critics within the party alleging that Senator Adeleke did not have the perquisite educational requirement to qualify as an aspirant for the office of Governor and promptly took him to court.
As the issue wore on, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave an order mandating the West African Examination Council (WAEC), through its Director General or any other designated officer of the council to confirm an affidavit presented by Senator Adeleke confirming or denying that the Flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke with candidate number 19645/149, sat for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination conducted by the council at Ede Muslim High School, Osun state in May/June 1981, within five days of being served the order.
furthermore, the court also gave an order compelling WAEC through any of its any designated officers, to also produce the ledger containing the results of all candidates that sat for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination conducted by the council at Ede Muslim High School, Osun state in May/June 1981, within five days of being served the order.
The order was issued as part of a ruling on an application filed against the ‘dancing’ senator by two members of his party; Wahab Adekunle Raheem and Adam Omosalewa Habeeb alongside the PDP and INEC who are joined as defendants in the suit.
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The court reduced the timing of the service of court summons and judgments as well as time within which the defendants may enter an appearance and file processes to five days from the day of the service of the originating summons.
The court also granted leave to the defendants to serve Senator Adeleke all Originating Summons and subsequent processes in the suit by substituted means by serving them on any officer or clerk at the Office of the Clerk of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
This was instituted by the court to avoid the incident that happened in which Senator Melaye refused to collect court summons served on him; this time however, the defendants are allowed to deliver the summons by means of proxy usually used for high profile defendants.
The court, however, refused to grant the order of Interim injunction restraining INEC from recognizing Senator Adeleke as PDP’s candidate for the September 22 election in Osun state pending the hearing of the motion or retraining him from parading himself as the PDP candidate in the forthcoming election.