The ‘Dancing Senator’ Has A Case To Answer, Period. By Agih, Sylvester Isaac

Sequel to the invitation by the Nigerian Police to the PDP
governorship candidate in Osun state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, over
alleged malpractices in the National Examination Council, (NECO)
held in 2017, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on 19/09/2018,
has cautioned Police operatives against harassing its candidate.
The move, according to its image maker, Kola Ologbondiyan, became
necessary when the Nigerian Police, shortly after the PDP rally in
Osogbo where Adeleke declared the end for the ruling party in the
state, invited the governorship candidate and three others to
appear before its Special Investigation Panel with immediate effect
in connection with alleged examination malpractices. To the PDP,
this was a ploy by the All Progressives Congress (APC), to distract
the PDP candidate and if possible, put him out of circulation
before and during the election.

In the same vain, the Coalition of United Political Parties
(CUPP), through its 1st spokesman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, has also
issued a statement condemning the conduct of the police as
indeed, the Buhari-led administration in the following strong
words:

“The Buhari administration has now become shameless,
purposeless, conscienceless and clueless. The plot by the APC
government working with the Police which now behaves like the
security arm of the APC to arrest key opposition governorship
candidates and their supporters 24 hours to election to deprive
them of the chance to make adequate preparation for the election
shall be resisted”.

The foregoing mirrors the feeling of Nigerians in recent times,
particularly regarding the conduct of security operatives under the
present administration. While it may appear that the Buhari-led
government is open to adopting any ploy necessary to compel those
perceived as ‘opponents’ to conform to its whims and caprices,
including the arbitrary use of security personnel to achieve its
results, it is submitted that this is not true in all cases. At
least, not in the instant regard. The invitation by the police to
Adeleke, on the allegation of exam malpractice, criminal conspiracy
and personation, inter alia, should not be hastily adjudged as
“witch-hunting”, “harassment”, or “a ploy to distract or take the
PDP governorship candidate out of circulation” as it is currently
being done by critics of the Buhari-led government. It should
rather be viewed from the focal point of whether the allegations
are real or tenable in law to warrant the calling of the senator to
answer to the same. Below is an analysis of the allegations as
reported by Vanguard in its news of Wednesday, 19/09/2018.

1. ON THE ALLEGATION OF MALPRACTICE: The charge
   against Adeleke on examination malpractice seems real enough. The
   senator himself confirmed this in his cautionary statement to the
   police when he admitted that he registered for the 2017 NECO
   examination as an internal student but he didn’t sit for the
   examination. Relying on this piece of fact, one may pose a question
   as follows: if Senator Adeleke registered for the NECO 2017
   internal examination but fails to sit for the exams, how then did
   he come about the result from NECO with Seven (7) Credits and One
   (1) Pass, a copy of which was obtained from NECO by the Police? A
   clear case of examination malpractice therefore exists, and the
   senator should be afforded the opportunity to answer to the same,
   accordingly.
2. ON THE ALLEGATION OF PERSONATION: Adeleke, in
   his cautionary statement, also admitted against interest that he
   registered for the NECO examination as an internal student. This
   presupposes that he was a regular student of the OJO/Aro Community
   High School in Osun state. But even more interesting is the fact
   that the Ojo/Aro 2017 NECO, SSCE school photo album contained the
   photographs of Senator Ademola Adeleke and his brother, Sikiru
   Adeleke in school uniform as if both were regular or full time
   students of the school. Amusingly however, all but the said
   photographs of the two brothers bear the NECO stamp on them. This
   leads one to the irresistible conclusion that the said photographs
   of the brothers were unlawfully smuggled into the school’s photo
   album in an attempt to personate students of the school. But if
   this is otherwise and Adeleke feels strongly about it, he should
   accept the police invitation and thus, clear the air in court. It
   is as simple as that.
3. ON THE ALLEGATION OF CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY: The
   fact that the first two offences above cannot be accomplished
   without the concurrence of the school principal, Alhaji Aregbesola
   Mufutau, and the other persons with whom Adeleke was charged,
   raises the presumption of criminal conspiracy against the suspects.
   Again, it is for the dancing senator – and any of the suspects, for
   that matter – to rebut the presumption, if need be. What better
   place to do this than in a court of law?
4. FALSIFICATION OF AGE: whereas the date of
   birth of senator Adeleke on his 2017 NECO result reflected “12th
   June 1997”, in his statement to the police, Adeleke wrote that his
   date of birth was “13th May, 1960”. There is thus, a clear case of
   conflict in the senator’s date of birth. He was either born in
   1960, in which case he is 58 years old or he was born in 1997, in
   which case he is 21 years old. One however, needs not be a genius,
   to figure out the senator’s true age. For example, in suit number
   FCT/HC/BW/CV/122/2018 brought by two plaintiffs challenging
   Adeleke’s eligibility to participate in the governorship contest on
   ground of alleged certificate forgery, the court in its ruling
   directed that WAEC should depose to an affidavit, either denying or
   confirming that Adeleke sat for the exams held at Ede Muslim High
   School in Ede, Osun State, in 1981. In compliance with the order,
   WAEC deposed to a 4 paragraph affidavit confirming that Senator
   Ademola Adeleke, was among the 221 candidates that sat for the
   examination conducted by it in May/June, 1981. If this information
   is anything to go by, it means that Adeleke’s true date of birth
   could not have been 12th June 1997 as claimed in his 2017 NECO
   result. This is because if this were otherwise so, then Adeleke
   could not have possibly existed in 1981 to have registered and even
   sat for the SSCE examination as affirmed on oath by WAEC in its
   affidavit to the court. Thus, it can again be seen that Adeleke has
   a case to clarify in court.

Accordingly therefore, and regardless of what its true motive
may be, the Nigerian police has a duty under sections 4 and 23 of
the Police Act respectively, to investigate and prosecute offenders
where a probable cause exist to so do. In the instant regard, the
dancing senator has given the police more reasons than necessary to
have him investigated and prosecuted, as can be seen above. That
the police therefore, decided to take him up on his offer or that
the timing for so doing was bad for him or his party, is simply too
bad. Again, critics cannot properly impute bad faith into the
conduct of the police merely because the police in their view had
in the past turned a blind eye to similar crimes committed. The
cases of the erstwhile Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who
confessed to having a forged, NYSC Exemption Certificate and the
Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution and Chairman of
the Special Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public
Property, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, whose certificate, WAEC openly
told the National Assembly, is fake, readily comes to mind. But it
should also be borne in mind that the power of the police to
investigate or prosecute a person is discretional and not
ministerial. See FAWEHINMI v. IGP. Thus, police operatives as
indeed, similar agencies, are possessed of the power to pick and
choose – for reasons best known to them- cases that they
investigate or prosecute without having to give any explanation for
so doing. The courts in Nigeria have not only given judicial
recognition to this but are reluctant to interfere with such power.
See the FAWEHINMI’s case supra.

Thus, rather than relying on cheap political propaganda, Senator
Adeleke should embrace his fate by facing his music like a man and
if possible (but this is doubted) dance through it like he often
does in social events.

Agih, Sylvester Isaac,agihisaac@gmail.com