Justice Musa’s judgment nullifying my candidacy won’t stand —Adeleke

Andrew Orolua,Abuja

Senator Ademola Adeleke (Osun West Senatorial District) said Wednesday that the Tuesday ’ s judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Bwari , Abuja , nullifying his candidature for the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State , would not stand.

Justice Othman Musa of the FCT High Court in Bwari , Abuja , had, on Tuesday , nullified Adeleke’ s nomination by the Peoples Democratic Party for the last year ’ s poll.

The judge held that Adeleke was not qualified to run for the office of a governor, not being , allegedly, educated up to secondary school level as required of him under Section 177 of the Nigerian Constitution.

But , rejecting the judgment in an early Wednesday ’ s statement , Adeleke vowed to appeal against it, describing it as “ flawed and a travesty of justice. ”
“ While we are set to appeal the judgment , we also find it compelling to put the records straight by listing out the fatal flaws in the ruling and why it cannot stand before any court , ” Adeleke said in the statement .

The statement titled, ‘ Flawed Bwari judgment against Senator Adeleke cannot stand !’, issued on his behalf in the name of his campaign organisation , was signed by a lawyer , Niyi Owolade.

Adeleke said the message which he “ received with bewilderment, ” “ subverted justice by ignoring four critical evidence to rule against validated facts and submissions . ”

Faulting the judgment , Adeleke said , firstly , there had been “ two rulings delivered in September 2018 ” which “ held that Senator Adeleke satisfied all requirements of the law to contest for office.”

He stated that the Tuesday judgment breached the “ precept ” that “ once a court of coordinate jurisdiction has ruled on a matter , court of similar jurisdiction cannot entertain it. ”

The statement added that the judge “ erred in law by failing to take note of the expiration of 180 days for ruling on pre- election matters. ”

It added , “ Even when a December 2018 judgment with respect to the issue was presented , the judge chose to ignore it.

“ We note that the judge violated the law by adjudicating over a matter whose filing and hearing period had expired . ”

Adeleke’ s third reason for faulting the judgment was that the judgment ignored the evidence produced by the West Africa Examination Council which listed “all students who sat for the May/ June examination in 1981 alongside the senator, in addition to the certified true copies of his school certificate result.”