JUSTICE David Oladimeji of the Osun State High Court has dismissed the certificate forgery suit filed against Ademola Adeleke, lawmaker representing Osun West Senatorial District.

Two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rasheed Olabayo and Idowu Oluwaseun, had gone to court seeking to stop Adeleke from being the party’s candidate in the governorship election scheduled to hold in the state on September 22, 2018.

Justice Oladimeji, in his ruling on Wednesday, held that he discovered Adeleke, the first defendant, was educated up to secondary school level as the complainants had themselves admitted in their affidavit.

He further noted that documents presented by Adeleke were marred by “some serious and damaging irregularities”.

He, however, said in his verdict that he could not prevent the defendant from contesting on the platform of the PDP, as the case of forgery preferred against him was neither raised in the originating summon nor sufficiently proved by the plaintiffs.

Adeleke was declared winner of PDP primary election, narrowly defeating his closest opponent, Akin Ogunbiyi, with a very slim margin of 1569 votes to 1562. His university and ordinary level qualifications have, however, become a subject of controversy.

In July, The ICIR confirmed that Adeleke did not graduate successfully from Jacksonville State University, from which he claims to have a Diploma in Criminology.

“According to our records, he attended JSU but did not graduate. I cannot provide any additional information,” said Buffy Lockette, the Director of Public Relations at the university, in response to a mailed enquiry.