A Magistrate’s Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday granted a N2 million bail to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, after he was arraigned before the court on a five-count charge bordering on alleged false statements and forgery. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and his lawyer, Adebiyi Adeyosoye, accordingly move an application for his bail.
Adeleke was the PDP governorship candidate in Osun State, in the election held in September 2018. An election tribunal validated his election in a split ruling in March. An Appeal court is due to pronounce its verdict on who was the real winner between him and Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adeleke was on Tuesday, May 6, 2019, detained by the police at its headquarters in Abuja, after he submitted himself for interrogation in line with an order of a Federal High Court, Abuja. The police after its interrogation brought Adeleke to the Mpape Magistrate’s Court for arraignment on the allegations of forgery. When the suit was called, Adeleke’s lawyer told the court that it would be impracticable for the court to proceed with the arraignment on the grounds that the defendant is already standing trial on the same charge in two different High Courts. He submitted that going ahead with the arraignment would amount to abuse of court process.
Adeyosoye further told the court that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who had on Friday, May 3, granted Adeleke permission to travel abroad for medical attention, ordered the police not to hinder Adeleke from embarking on his medical trip scheduled for Tuesday May 7, 2019. The lawyer also presented before the court another order of a High Court in Osun, which specifically ordered the police not to arrest or prevent Adeleke from travelling abroad for medical attention. The two court orders were tendered and admitted in evidence as exhibit A and A1. He accordingly urged the court to adjourn indefinitely pending the hearing and determination of the two main lawsuits.
Responding, the defence counsel, Simon Lough, opposed the application for adjournment on grounds that the orders of the court on which the application was predicated did not say that the defendant cannot be arraigned. Lough in addition informed the court that the government had already filed an appeal against the orders of Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court. He therefore urged the court to dismiss the application and order the defendant to take his plea.
Ruling on the application for adjournment, the magistrate held that going by the hierarchy of court, the Magistrate Court is bound by the orders of a High Court. He further held that the court cannot stop the defendant from enjoying his fundamental rights as ordered by the High Courts.
However, Justice Zubaru declined to adjourn the matter indefinitely arguing that nowhere is it stated in the orders of the two High Courts that the police was ordered not to arraign the defendant. He ordered that the charge be read to Adeleke for him to take his plea, before adjourning the case to June 24 for commencement of trial.
The allegation of certificate forgery had dogged Adeleke in the run-up to the election, leading to his arrest before the poll. President Muhammadu Buhari waded into the case and ordered the police to release him. Recently, Justice Othman Musa of the FCT High Court declared the Secondary School Certificate presented by Adeleke to INEC as fake. A suit is pending in the high court seeking the declaration of his senatorial seat vacant. Adeleke has appealed the judgment.
Piqued by Adeleke’s arrest and arraignment in the Abuja Municipal Court, the opposition PDP condemned the action and called for his immediate and unconditional release. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, at a press conference in Abuja, condemned the arrest, describing it as unconstitutional, provocative and part of a plot by the APC to stall his tribunal case.
He described the arrest as total disregard for the extant order of the Osun State High Court, restraining the police or its agents from arresting and detaining Adeleke, on account of the statement of result and testimonial duly issued by Ede Muslim Grammar School, pending the determination of the originating summons before the court. He said that the police, however, arrested Adeleke, representing Osun West Senatorial District, on the guise of an invitation despite the direct orders of the state court.
“The arrest and detention of Senator Adeleke is a direct act of violence against our laws, the institution of the judiciary and the 1999 Constitution (as amended). This is part of the grand plot by the APC to coerce Adeleke to relinquish the mandate that was freely given to him by the people of Osun state, which was further established by the election petition tribunal.
Ologbondiyan said that any arraignment of Adeleke in a magistrate court, for a matter already being heard by the Federal High Court, was a calculated plot to cause crisis in the judicial system, enmesh the matter in unnecessary controversy as a pathway to truncate the course of justice.
“The PDP therefore demands forthwith, the immediate and unconditional release of Adeleke by the police. This demand is predicated on fears already in the public space that there are plots by certain elements to poison him in detention.”
