The Nigerian Court of Appeal has, on Thursday, ruled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was qualified to contest last year’s governorship election in Osun State.
The court overturned the judgment delivered on 2 April by Justice Othman Musa of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Bwari, which voided Adeleke’s candidacy for Osun election.
Justice Musa said the senator was not qualified having not possessed valid secondary school certificate.
In a unanimous judgment on Thursday, a three-man panel of the Appeal Court ruled that the FCT High Court was wrong to have concluded that Adeleke did not complete secondary education and that he made false representation as regards his educational qualification.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, in the lead judgment, faulted the trial court for assuming jurisdiction over the case filed by Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb outside the 14 days prescribed for pre-election cases by the Constitution.
Justice Agim also held that the failure of the FCT High Court to deliver its verdict within 60 days of the filing of the suit had rendered the lower court’s judgment as a nullity.
The Court of Appeal also held that the affidavit evidence of the West African Examination Council and result ledger attached to it showed that Adeleke was not a dropout but actually sat the May 1981 examination of the body at Muslim Grammar School, Ede.
The court also ordered the two plaintiffs to pay Adeleke N3million as costs.