Justice Ayo Salami says former Anambra State governor Peter Obi shouldn’t have been allowed to contest the 2023 presidential elections under the Labour Party (LP) platform.
The former appeal court president stated this on Tuesday while briefing journalists at his residence in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Justice Salami argued that by the time Obi left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary, the LP had submitted its list of members to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Peter Obi of the Labour Party ought not to have been allowed to contest in the presidential election in the sense that by the time he left the PDP primary, the Labour Party had submitted its list of members to INEC. The constitution says there can’t be independent candidates. How did he become a candidate if he doesn’t belong to the Labour Party?” Salami said.
“The same thing happened to the governor of Kano State, who has now defected to the APC. His name is not in the NNPP register, but they issued him a membership card, and the register is supposed to be the mother of the card. That is the source of the register for his membership. Even though the Tribunal and Court of Appeal frowned at it, and that’s the problem of competence.”
The retired jurist also faulted the actions of some judges for delivering wrong verdicts, attributing it to incompetence.
“Some of them have problems with learning; they are not sufficiently trained. They don’t have a good background to be such. And imagine appointing a higher registrar, a judge.
“All this may be responsible, not because they are dishonest or they take bribes or they are influenced. But maybe personally, they are inadequate. And that may be responsible for their wrong judgment.
“At times when you see or read judgment of some of them, even the Supreme Court judgment, you would be astounded and wonder what is happening,” he added.
