Senator Adeleke's woes worsen as Jacksonville State University says he did not graduate from there

OSUN State's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate Senator Ademola Adeleke's political woes worsened yesterday when the Jacksonville State University (JSU) in the US denied that he was one of their graduates.

 

Senator Adeleke, 58 won the PDP primaries earlier this month in July 21, winning the right to be the party's gubernatorial candidate at the governorship elections taking place on September 22. However, since winning the ticket, Senator Adeleke has been plagued by a controversy over his education with opponents questioning whether he went to secondary school.

 

Two opponents, Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu, dragged him to court, demanding that he be disqualified from standing for not possessing a school certificate as required by Section 177 (d) of the 1999 constitution. Earlier this week, the Justice David Oladimeji of the State High Court gave the senator until August 1 to produce his secondary school leaving certificate.

 

Now, things have got further complicated after JS in Alabama, in the US, denied he was their graduate, negating a claim on his profile on the National Assembly website, which states that Senator Adeleke has a diploma in criminology from the university and graduated in 1986. A report published on the website of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) in Abuja, said the JSU authorities said he has no degree from there.

 

Buffy Lockette, the university's director of public relations, said that although the senator enrolled at the tertiary institution, he was not awarded any degree. In response to an email query, he added that their records show that the senator did not graduate from JSU.

 

Mr Lockette said: “According to our records, he attended JSU but did not graduate. I cannot provide any additional information but perhaps you can learn more at http://www.studentclearinghouse.org.”

 

Senator Adeleke’s other academic claims have, however, been challenged. According to recently circulated claims, Adeleke registered for GCE O’ Levels in 1981 but had F9 in English Language and was recorded absent for other subjects.

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