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PDP Kicks as Police Arrest, Detain Adeleke
The Peoples Democratic Party has protested against the detention of its candidate for last year’s Osun State governorship election, Ademola Adeleke, by the police on Monday.
Adeleke was detained at Force Headquarters in Abuja after he was invited by the police
“This is highly provocative, an invitation to anarchy and a recipe for a very serious crisis not only in Osun but also in the judiciary and our nation,” the PDP National Publicity Secretary,Ologbindiyan, said at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
“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 to coerce Senator Adeleke into relinquishing the mandate that was freely given to him by the people of Osun State, which was further established by the tribunal.”
Ologbondiyan said the plot was to arraign Adeleke before “an ostensibly compromised magistrate’s court” over the same issues of alleged examination malpractice and certificate forgery before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He said, “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 Supreme Court.
“The police arrested him in the guise of an invitation despite the direct orders of the Federal High Court restraining them or their agents from arresting and detaining him on account of the 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 argued that arraigning Adeleke in a magistrate’s court for a matter already being heard by the Federal High Court was aimed at causing a crisis in the judiciary.
The party said, “The PDP therefore demands the immediate and unconditional release of Senator Adeleke by the police.”
The police said the lawmaker would be arraigned on Tuesday for unstated criminal offences.
Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, confirmed to one of our correspondents that they had taken Adeleke into custody.
He stated, “Senator Adeleke is currently in police custody. He was taken into custody in the evening (Monday) in connection with ongoing criminal investigations touching on his person.”
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted Adeleke permission to travel to the United States for a checkup on Tuesday.
Justice Inyang Ekwo however ordered him to honour a fresh police invitation on May 6 (Monday), before travelling the next day.
In his ruling delivered on Friday, but which its enrolled order was seen by The PUNCH on Monday, the court specifically directed the police not to prevent Adeleke from travelling on May 7.
The judge ordered him to return to the country on June 9.
Adeleke’s passport was seized by the court last year as the bail condition granted him, following his arraignment.
The judge ordered the Chief Registrar of the court to release the passport to him to enable him to embark on the foreign trip.
Justice Ekwo also ordered Adeleke to return the passport to the Chief Registrar within three days of his arrival in Nigeria on June 9.
He delivered his ruling after hearing Adeleke’s lawyer, Dr Alex Iziyon (SAN), and the prosecuting counsel, Simon Lough, on Friday.
After Adeleke applied for the release of his passport, the police opposed the application on the ground that there was a fresh petition against him.
The petition was said to have been filed after the senator had filed his application before the court.
Others standing trial before the court alongside Adeleke are Sikiru Adeleke, the Principal of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Alhaji Aregbesola Muftau, Registrar of the school, Gbadamosi Ojo, and a teacher in the school, Dare Olutope.
The prosecution accused the five defendants of committing the offence of examination malpractices by fraudulently, through impersonation, registering Adeleke and another Sikiru Adeleke, as pupils of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School for the National Examination Council’s June/July 2017 Senior School Certificate Examination in February 2017.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
