The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday raised alarm over the arrest and detention of its governorship candidate in the contentious 2018 Osun governorship poll, Senator Ademola Adeleke, by the police.
The party said the arrest was a ploy by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to intimidate him.
A statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, which was made available to TheNiche read:
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) informs the nation that the police
today Monday, May 6, 2019, arrested and detained our victorious
candidate in the Osun Governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in
total disregard for the extant order of the Federal High Court.
“This 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 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.
“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.
“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.”
The opposition further attached rulings of High Courts
