OSUN: PDP Reacts As Police Arrest, Detain Senator Ademola Adeleke

The Senator representing Osun West and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2018 governorship election in Osun state, Ademola Adeleke, has been arrested by the police on Monday.

Adeleke was detained by the police after he honoured their invitation to appear at the headquarters of the force over his alleged certificate and testimonial forgery case, his campaign organisation said in a press statement. 

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“We alert the public, diplomatic and democracy community worldwide that the Nigerian Police has arrested and detained Senator Ademola Adeleke on old trumped up charges of certificate and testimonial forgery,” the statement read.

“This is after the school principal and school authority have through affidavits denied any forgery and owned up to the school testimonial issued to Senator Adeleke.

“Senator Adeleke had this morning honoured police invitation at the force headquarters, Abuja. He arrived at the force headquarters at 9am and was not attended to until later this afternoon when he was informed of fresh charges of testimonial forgery. The distinguished Senator was taken to Maitama Police station with plan to arraign him tommorow at an undisclosed Magistrate Court.”

– PDP Claims Police Plotting To Poison Adeleke – 

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Reacting to Adeleke’s detention on Monday night, the PDP national leadership expressed fear that the police may be plotting to poison Adeleke to stop him from challenging the governorship victory of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Gboyega Oyetola, at the tribunal.

Speaking in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said Adeleke’s arrest and detention despite an “extant order of the Federal High Court” stopping the police from touching him “is highly provocative, an invitation to anarchy and recipe for a very serious crisis not only in Osun but also in the judiciary and our polity as a nation.” 

The opposition party said, “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 All Progressives Congress (APC) to coerce Senator 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.

“The plot is to drag Senator Adeleke before an ostensibly compromised magistrate court, over the same issues of alleged forged school testimonial that is already before the Federal High Court, with a view to using such corridor to secure a stampeded trial and hurried conviction, and put him out of circulation, over trump-up charges. 

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“The heinous calculation by the APC is to ensure that Senator Adeleke is not free to be sworn in as governor of Osun state as they know he will surely obtain justice and retrieve his stolen mandate at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. 

“The police arrested Senator Ademola on the guise of an invitation despite the direct orders of the Federal High Court, restraining it or its agents from arresting and detaining him on account of statement of result and testimonial duly issued by the Ede Muslim Grammar School, Ede, pending the determination of the originating summons pending in the court.

“Senator Adeleke, as a law-abiding citizen, honoured an invitation by the police only for him to be arrested and detained in a dingy facility in Maitama, in direct affront to the order of the Federal High Court.   

“The PDP holds that any arraignment of Senator Adeleke in a magistrate court, for a matter that is already being heard by the Federal High Court, is 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 in his matter. 

“The PDP therefore demands forthwith, the immediate and unconditional release of Senator 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.

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“The PDP therefore cautions those playing the script of the APC with regard to Senator Adeleke to retrace their steps and allow the people of Osun state to move ahead with their preferred governor. Nothing, not even these heinous plots, will subvert this reality.”

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