The trial of the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2018 governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, took a controversial turn Wednesday with a prosecution witness, alleging that although Adeleke enrolled for the exam, he did not see him in the exam hall while sitting for the exam.
The police tendered a National Examination Council (NECO) result sheet allegedly issued in the name of the defendant as one of the candidates for the 2017 exams but insisted he did not sit for it.
The exams script and the result sheet which were tendered by the police through one of its witnesses, Odesola Emmanuel, a supervisor in the NECO exam conducted in June 20, 2017, at the Ojo-Aro Community Grammer School in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State was admitted as exhibit.
Controversy however arose when the witness who claimed he supervised the exams and took the attendance of the students informed Justice Inyang Ekwo that he did not see Adeleke in the exam hall throughout the examination period.
Emmanuel who was led in evidence by Deputy Police Commissioner and prosecuting counsel, Simon Lough, told the court that it would not be difficult for him to notice the presence of Adeleke in the exam hall because he is a public figure and popular politician.
The witness however claimed that he saw one Sikirudeen Adeleke, who was fairly old among the students that participated in the exam.
Emmanuel who told the court that he had being in the teaching job for the past 10 years, narrated to the court that he took notice of the presence of the said Sikiru Adeleke because he was fairly old and comported himself in an orderly manner during the exam period.
Under cross examination by Adeleke’s lawyer, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), the witness said that there was no photo album for the 58 students who participated in the exam and with which he would have identified the students one after the other with the identity cards issued to them by the exam body.
The witness said that although the availability of photo album was key to the exam he however did not write any report on its absence and the consequences on the exam.
Answering a question, the witness stated that it was not possible for NECO to issue result for any student who did not participate in its examination, adding that he would be very much surprised if such a thing happened in the matter of Adeleke.
Apart from the presence of five matured students in the exam hall, the witness told the court that the examination was peaceful, free and fair and that there were no malpractices or swapping of exam paper.
The matter has been adjourned till June 10, 2018 for continuation of trial.
Felix Omohomhion, Abuja
