Thursday, May 02, 2019

Court Again Stalls Adeleke’s Appeal


The hearing of an appeal filed by Sen. Ademola Adekele before the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal was again stalled on Thursday.
Adeleke who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State is challenging his disqualification. 
Adeleke approached the appellate court following an April 2 ruling of the  FCT High Court in Bwari, Abuja that invalidated his status as the candidate of the PDP
Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, both of the Osun Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) instituted the suit against Adeleke, accusing him of not possessing the requisite educational qualification to contest the election.
The court had on April 25 adjourned hearing on the appeal on account of improper service. 
Surprisingly, at the resumption of hearing on Thursday, the Justice Abubakar Yayaha-led panel adjourned the matter until May 8 owing to a similar scenario. 
Justice Yahaya went ahead to adjourn the matter until May 8 in spite of the court’s indulgence in abridging time to admit some interlocutory applications. 
He added the matter could not on because of a pending Notice of Appeal filed by the PDP on the same matter.
“We are not going to consolidate the appeals, but it is only proper for us to hear all the appeals on similar subject matter on the same day.  
“We have seen that most of the processes have been exchanged but the PDP appeal against the judgment challenging the appellant’s qualification to contest the Osun Governorship election must be heard alongside Adeleke’s appeal. 
“In the circumstance, hearing on Adeleke’s appeal and the PDP’s appeal marked CA/A/326/2017 is adjourned until May 8. 
”The hearing notice should by served on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’’, Yahaya said.