By Steve Oma-Ofozor
Lagos
This many not be the best of times in the political career of Senator Ademola Adeleke as his candidacy for the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun State has been challenged.
Recalled, Senator Adeleke is contesting for the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party ((PDP), but petition has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against his qualifications bordering on age and certificate discrepancies.
Mr Akin Adeyi a member of PDP Osun State and the petitioner on Wednesday on a national television – Channels Politics Today – in Lagos said, “Adeleke is not qualified to represent the PDD in the coming election because of the discrepancies in his documents.”
“Adeleke cannot read and write; he cannot speak fluently, his certificates bears different names; that is why I wrote the petition to stop him from contesting the primaries, because if he wins to represent the party as the candidate, opposition will use it against PDP and the party will lose the state,” Adeyi explained.
However, Mr Hashim Abioye a PDP member who represented Senator Adeleke on the television programme asserted, “Senator Adeleke has no certificate problem at all.”
“The apex court has cleared Senator Adeleke of all certificate charges against him – his documents are all intact; he remains the candidate to beat by the oppositions,’ Abioye assured.
Mr Abioye further urged “detractors as Adeyi” he believed are working for the opposition parties for money to change and work for the success of the PDP which is expected to deliver good governance for the people of Osun State.
Incidentally, Adeyi was quick to admit, “PDP will win the election if Senator Adeleke is our candidate; we will campaign for PDP to win the state.”
It would be recalled that Senator Adeleke contested the Osun State governorship in 2018, but lost in a grand style.
