Pat Stevens/
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to rein in his officers hounding the PDP candidate in Saturday’s Osun State Governorship Election, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
The police had earlier today directed Adeleke and four others to report at the Force Headquarters Abuja, preparatory to their arraignment for alleged involvement in exam malpractice.
The party made the call in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, today in Abuja, noting that the integrity of the Force was at stake.
Ologbondiyan described the latest twist in the Adeleke Certificate Circus, leading to laughable trumped-up charges by the Police, as horrible, nauseating and displeasing.
He also described it as acting the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Adeleke.
He said that the sudden realisation of allegations that Adeleke was involved in a National Examination Council (NECO) exam malpractice in 2017, as well as his subsequent invitation by the police, barely two days before the governorship election, is a ploy by the APC to distract the PDP candidate.
Ologbondiyan said it was an attempt to see the possibility of putting Adeleke out of circulation before and during the election.
“While the PDP is in no way against any legitimate effort by any security agency in the discharge of its duties, we totally reject this unrelenting attempt to use trumped-up charges to take down our candidate, simply because the APC has realised that he is coasting to victory.
“Perhaps, the police needs to be educated that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has already confirmed that Sen. Adeleke wrote his WAEC examination in 1981, thus ending the earlier unnecessary controversy about his WAEC status. ”
Ologbondiyan said it was, however, worrisome that the same police that was yet to invite the former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who resigned on the alleged forgery of the NYSC Exemption Certificate.
He added that the police had not also deem it fit to invite the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution and Chairman of the Special Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, whose certificate, WAEC openly told the National Assembly, was fake.
“More so, there are several leaders in APC, whose certificates have been questioned and which the Police have not considered it needful to conduct the littlest investigation.
“The PDP calls on the Inspector General of Police to protect the integrity of the Force by immediately calling his officers hounding Senator Adeleke to order.
“The issue of who becomes the governor of Osun state resides with the people of Osun and nothing should be allowed to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election.”
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