The Governor-elect of Osun state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, presented to INEC a high school diploma and college degree obtained 24 days apart in the United States of America, a logical impossibility that exposes his legal vulnerability and raises the risk of possible disqualification if found guilty by the court of willfully misleading the electoral body and without the academic qualifications required to run for office.
The damning details, contained in an exclusive by a media outlet, showed that Senator Adeleke purportedly obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the Atlanta Metropolitan State College on August 9, 2021 – a certificate preceded by a diploma purportedly obtained from Penn Foster High School on July 16, 2021, 24 days before his college degree.
Unless Senator Adeleke enjoyed a never-before-seen college education acceleration, it is impossible to have completed a bachelor’s degree in less than a month. This has placed the authenticity of the claims under serious doubt, particularly as the incumbent Governor of the State has submitted a petition challenging Adeleke’s victory in court.
The PDP Governor-elect is no stranger to controversy related to his academic credentials. In 2018, he was the subject of a police investigation and court trial over allegations that he lacked the required academic credentials to run for office, and in a bid to make up for the difference, he colluded with some school administrators to allow him sit for the National Examination Council (NECO) in 2017.
He was charged with Examination Malpractice, Criminal Conspiracy, Personation, Breach of Duty, Aiding and Abetting. Senator Adeleke did not satisfactorily clear these allegations before the trial went cold. New details about his submitted credentials have further complicated his legal standing, with several analysts asserting that he risks legal disqualification and forfeiture of his electoral victory.