The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the police of acting the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), by filing charges against and inviting Senator Ademola Adeleke, its candidate in the Osun State governorship election.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday, the PDP described the development as “horrible, nauseating and displeasing”.
It further stated that the invitation by the police, barely two days before the governorship election, over allegations of malpractice in the National Examination Council (NECO) examination, is a “ploy by the APC to distract the PDP candidate and if possible, put him out of circulation before and during the election”.
“While the PDP is in no way against any legitimate effort by any security agency in the discharge of its duties, we totally reject this unrelenting attempt to use trumped-up charges to take down our candidate, simply because the APC has realized that he is coasting to victory.
“Perhaps, the police needs to be educated that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has already confirmed that Senator Adeleke wrote his WAEC examination in 1981, thus ending the earlier unnecessary controversy about his WAEC status,” the statement read in part.
The PDP also took a swipe at the police, saying that it had failed to invite the former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate controversy, prior to her resignation.
It also said the police had failed to invite the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution and Chairman of the Special Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono-Obla, whose certificate according to them, WAEC had openly told the National Assembly was fake.
It further stated that there were several leaders in the APC, whose certificates had been questioned but the Police had failed to conduct any investigation.
The PDP, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police to protect the integrity of the Force by immediately calling his officers hounding Senator Adeleke, to order.
The party also asked the police to avoid anything that would disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election scheduled to hold on September 22
