A former National Chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), Mr Kenneth Udeze and two other expelled members of the party; Ogunmodede Oluwagbemi and James Vernibe, were, on Friday, re-arraigned before an Osun State Magistrate Court sitting in Osogbo, the state capital.
While Ogunmodede was the former chairman of the party in Osun State, Vernibe was until his expulsion from the party, the National Secretary.
However, the trio of Udeze, Ogunmodede and Vernibe who had earlier been remanded at the Ilesa correctional centre for alleged fraud and forgery appeared in court on Friday.
The three of them were standing trial for alleged conspiracy, fraud and forgery.
Udeze was in 2020 arrested by operatives of Zone 11 of the Nigerian Police Force, with headquarters in Osogbo and subsequently charged to court.
The former AA national chairman was alleged to have replaced the name of the duly elected governorship candidate of the party in Osun State with another person during the 2018 governorship election held in the state.
According to the charge sheet read in court, Udeze and other defendants had in July 2018 conspired to commit felony and fraud, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under section 516 of the criminal code, laws of Osun State.
Also, Udeze was alleged to have fraudulently ultered the documents of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and presented same as original.
The offence was said to be contrary to the provisions of section 468 and punishable under section 469 of the criminal code, laws of Osun State.
Appearing before the court on Friday, Udeze had through his counsel, Mr W.O Wemimo challenged the jurisdiction of the court.
However, the Prosecution counsel, Mr J.O Famuyini objected the application, saying that the defendants had already approached the state High Court seeking for an order to quash the charges preferred against them.
He said challenging the jurisdiction of the court by the defendants would amount to an abuse of court process.
He urged the court to disregard the application and allow the case to be heard as the case had suffered several adjournment
Ruling on the application, Magistrate Bola Ajanaku who presided over the court threw out the application.
The trial Magistrate thereafter adjourned the case to 26th November, 2021 for hearing.
