Eligibility: Court of Appeal to deliver judgment in Adeleke’s appeal today

The Court of Appeal in Abuja will today deliver judgment in the separate appeals by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke.

The court announced the date of judgment in hearing notices sent to parties by its Registry.

The PDP and Adeleke are, by their appeals, challenging the April 2, 2019 judgment by Justice Othman Musa of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Bwari, which voided Adeleke’s candidacy for the election on the grounds that he was not qualified, having not possessed a valid secondary school certificate.

The judgment by Justice Musa was in the suit by Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, who claimed that Adeleke was not qualified, under Section 177 of the constitution to contest the governorship election.

A panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Adamu Jauro, at the conclusion of hearing in the appeals on May 14, told parties that a date for judgment would be communicated to them.

Adeleke’s lawyer, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), while arguing the appeal, faulted the judgment of the trial court.

Ogunwumiju urged the court to uphold his client’s appeal and set aside the judgment.

Lawyer to the PDP, Emmanuel Enoidem, urged the court to set aside the judgment of the trial court and proceed to dismiss the suit,  on which it was based, for being incompetent and statute barred.

Enoidem, who is also PDP’s National Legal Adviser, argued that the suit was caught by the Fourth Alteration Act, having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by law.

In a counter-argument, lawyer to the respondents, Joel Akomolafe urged the court to uphold the judgment of the lower court and dismiss the appeal.

Akomolafe contended that the appellants did not appeal the lower court’s pronouncement on the issue of jurisdiction.

He argued that, having not been appealed against, the decision of the trial court on its jurisdiction to hear the case remains valid and subsisting.

Akomolafe noted that the trial court dismissed the motion by Adeleke and PDP, challenging its jurisdiction on the ground that it was canvassed belatedly.

Justice Musa had, in the April 2, 2019 judgement, held that Adeleke did not possess valid secondary school certificate for him to be eligible to stand election for the seat of the Governor of Osun Stat

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