Osun PDP Primary: Ogunbiyi Seeks Adeleke’s Disqualification over Certificate Forgery

Ololade Adeyanju/

Winner of the Osun governorship primary, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has been accused of not possessing the requisite academic qualification.

The runner up in the primary election, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, also accused Adeleke of not mustering the number of votes to qualify him as candidate of the party.

Ogunbiyi further alleged that the document submitted by Adeleke as evidence of his educational qualification up to school certificate level did not meet the basic qualification stipulated by the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act.

“The Principal of Muslim Grammar School, Ede, Mr Khalid Abbas, who purportedly signed the testimonial had not been posted to the school in question as at the date indicated on the document.

“The principal has denied ever issuing or signing it and the denial is very well on record,” Ogunbiyi claimed.

He, consequently, urged the party’s leadership to declare him winner of the primary.

Ogunbiyi on Monday stormed the party’s National Secretariat to petition the leadership over the outcome of the primary.

Ogunbiyi narrowly lost to Adeleke, polling 1,562 votes as against 1,569 votes as the flag-bearer for the Sept 22 poll.

In a petition addressed to the Chairman, Gubernatorial Electoral Appeal Panel of the PDP, the aspirant said that 42 voided votes and 128 unaccounted votes were for him.

He added that the total votes he garnered at the poll were 1,732.

He stated: “I, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, having polled the highest number of votes in the primary election of July 21, be declared the validly nominated/ elected PDP governorship candidate for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Osun.”

He also called for the disqualification of Adeleke based on the faulted process of the primary.

“Contrary to Section 30, Sub-Section `E’ of the Electoral Guidelines for primary election 2018, the total number of delegates accredited was not announced before the commencement of voting,” Ogunbiyi said.

In his reaction, Adeleke described the primary poll as “a brotherly and family contest”.

He urged all aggrieved aspirants to join hands with him to reclaim the state from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He particularly urged Ogunbiyi to “come on board”, and congratulated him for “his hard-fighting team and for running a good and impressive campaign”.

“It was a brotherly contest in our collective strive to redeem our state. It is therefore no gainsaying that we are all winners.

“My emergence as the governorship candidate of our great party marks the beginning of divine liberation of our dear people from repression and oppression,” Adeleke stated.

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