The decision of the Nigerian police to arraign the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the recent Osun State election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, for alleged examination malpractice, criminal conspiracy, and impersonation on October 31 has raised a lot of eye brow especially because the former minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun was spared for similar allegations
A large number of Nigerians have slammed the Presidency as they are of the opinion that the action against Adeleke is politically motivated and calculated to humiliate him and frustrate the electoral chances of Ademola Adeleke.
Reacting to the outcry, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood claimed that the Nigerian Police Force had no idea prior to this time that Kemi Adeosun was involved in the forgery of the NYSC exemption certificate.
According to him, there was no formal complaint against the ex-minister. He explained that Adeosun was not prosecuted for forgery because she was not investigated by the Force.
Moshood said;
“We don’t know anything about her case because nobody reported any matter to us, we didn’t have any complaint against her, and nobody complained or reported to us. The Force has no knowledge of any case,”
When told that the matter was covered by the media for months, he retorted, “Did you (our correspondent) report to us?”
However when told that a non-governmental organisation, Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre, had petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to probe the forgery allegations against Adeosun before she resigned, Moshood directed further inquiries to the NGO.
It may be recalled that on July 21, 2017, the police had explained that the Osun State Police Intelligence Bureau received and acted on an actionable intelligence about an ongoing examination malpractice involving Senator Adeleke and Sikiru at Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School in the state.
While the police were taking steps to prosecute Adeleke, the Force failed to investigate or prosecute a former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, for certificate forgery. She subsequently left for London, United Kingdom less than 24 hours after tendering her resignation letter.
