Detained Adeleke to be arraigned in Abuja today

THE Osun State candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last year’s governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, will be arraigned today in Abuja, the police said last night.

According to Force spokesman Frank Mba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DCP), the senator was arrested and being detained in connection with ongoing criminal investigations touching on his person.

He, however, declined to give the exact charges against Adeleke. A police source told The Nation last night that the senator will be arraigned for forgery.

A statement by Mba reads: “Senator Adeleke is currently in police custody. He was taken into custody in the evening of today yesterday (6th, May, 2019, in connection with ongoing criminal investigations touching on his person.

“Meanwhile, in the best tradition of natural justice and fair hearing, he has already been served with the relevant charge sheet containing his alleged offences in the presence of his attorneys.

“He will be arraigned in a competent court of law tomorrow, 7th May, 2019.”

But the PDP yesterday alleged plots to poison the senator.

According to it, Adeleke was arrested and detained by the police yesterday evening, in what the party described “total disregard for the extant order of the Federal High Court.”

At a news conference in Abuja, PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, described the senator’s arrest and detention as highly provocative, an invitation to anarchy and recipe for a very serious crisis not only in Osun but also in the judiciary and the nation as a whole.

The statement said: “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.”