Ogun State lawmaker, Adeleye
Adewale Adebiyi, has been accused of “intentionally presented a forged Secondary
School Leaving Certificate and [an Ordinary National Diploma] OND certificate
to [the] Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), lied about his age,
and made false declaration before the Commissioner of Oath in Ogun State in
December 2014.”
The petition, which was signed
and dated September 16, 2015 by Prince
Wasiu, stated that the lawmaker committed the forgery in filling out his
personal information in INEC Form CF-001, a copy of which the petitioners
attached.
According to the petition, the
lawmaker falsely claimed to have attended Ode Remo Community High School from
1986 to 1993, and that he earned an OND from Federal College of Freshwaters
Fisheries Technology in New Bussa, Niger State. The petition disclosed that the
state legislator then attached a School Leaving Certificate and National
Diploma examination result instead of certificates.
The petition disclosed that the
majority of residents of Remo North constituency already knew that Mr.
Adebiyi’s claims were false. Even so, the petitioners told the Ogun State
Commissioner of Police that they carried out a formal investigation that
established that the lawmaker “actually attended SAAPADE GRAMMAR SCHOOL from
1986-1991,” instead of his false claim “to have attended Ode Remo High School
from 1986 to 1993.”
The petition suggested that the
lawmaker left SAAPADE in controversial circumstances, hence his desire to
“conceal and lie to INEC about the actual school he attended.”
The petitioners enclosed several
documents showing that the lawmaker was a student at SAAPADE, including a
response from the principal of the school and a copy of Mr. Adebiyi’s admission
register, confirming that the lawmaker “was admitted into SAAPADE in 1986, JSS1
(Class 1), and left the same school in 1991 at SS2.”
The petitioners also accused the
principal of Ode Remo High School of colluding with the legislator by issuing
him a fraudulent certificate aimed at misleading INEC and voters. “Could the
accused have attended two secondary schools at the same time between the same
period of 1986-1992? It is our opinion that the current principal of Ode Remo
High School is an accomplice, in this case, helping him forge and falsify the
records,” Mr. Wasiu wrote. The petition stated that the current principal
of SAAPADE School admitted that he had once taught the lawmaker in an English
class, adding that several alumni of the school were “willing to testify that
they were classmates at SAAPADE and were both admitted into JSS1 (Class 1) in
1986.”
The petition also included
evidence that Mr. Adebiyi inadvertently exposed his own lie when he recently
hosted a meeting of the 1986-1992 sets of the Old Students Association of
SAAPADE Grammar School. Mr. Wasiu enclosed a copy of the official minutes of
the meetings of the Old Student Association held on April 19, 2014, August 2,
2014, and August 1, 2015, proving that Mr. Adebiyi was a “bona fide, founding
and financial member of the Association.”
The petitioners also provided
some documents to demonstrate that the lawmaker never earned the National
Diploma he claimed to have received from a polytechnic. “Under the ‘Freedom of Information
Act (F.O.I) 2011,’ we requested to know if truly he graduated from the
institution, and to know on what basis or result he was admitted, if at all the
ND result was authentic,” the petitioners wrote, adding that the polytechnic’s
registrar, H.M. Baboko, wrote them to confirm that there was no record of Mr.
Adebiyi in the school’s archives.
Noting that Mr. Adebiyi’s forged
school certificate identified him as an “arts” student, the petitioners
wondered how the legislator could have gained admission to a polytechnic solely
focused on science courses.
According to the petitioner, Mr.
Adebiyi was known to be a full-time photography apprentice at a local photo
shop in Isara, his hometown, in 2000, the same year “he claimed to have
finished ND.”
The petitioners urged the state
police command to investigate the lawmaker’s claims to ascertain from the
Federal Polytechnic that he had never attended the school. They also accused
Mr. Adebiyi of lying about his date of birth.
“He failed to provide his original
birth certificate to INEC but claimed to be born on 16th of July 1974. However,
his original registered date of birth is 17th of December 1974,” said the
petitioners. They added Mr. Adebiyi’s correct date of birth could be verified
from his primary school record at archive, Wesley Primary School, Isara, which
is part of his admission register at SAAPADE Grammar School as well as on his
international passport.
The petition also accused the
lawmaker of fraudulently and knowingly declaring and signing a false
declaration before the Commissioner of Oath on December 15, 2014.
The petitioners observed that Mr.
Adebiyi had committed criminal offenses punishable under Chapter 43 and 44 of
the Criminal Code of Nigeria. They also noted that the Nigerian constitution
“states that a person is not qualified to be a member of the State Assembly” if
he has presented forged certificates to INEC.
The petition was copied to the
Nigerian President, the Inspector General of Police, the chairperson of the
National Human Rights Commission, and the chairperson of the Ogun State chapter
of the Nigerian Bar Association.
In response to the petition, Mr. Adebiyi mobilizing his aides and thugs
to the Nigerian Union ofTeachers Hall in Abeokuta to abduct his accusers.
In broad day light,
Adebiyi watched as thugs loyal to him kidnaped Taiwo Gbadebo and Okiki
Ola. Shortly after the abduction of the petitioner, Mr. Adebiyi posted photos
of the abduction on his Facebook page, bragging that he had nabbed the fellows
that defamed him. He later dumped his victims at the police station in Ibara
-Abeokuta where they will be charged by police for defaming Mr. Adebiyi.
