Former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami (rtd), yesterday, said that ex-governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, ought not to be allowed to contest the 2023 presidential elections under the banner of the Labour Party (LP).
Salami stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a courtesy visit and presentation of an award to him by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).
The founder and executive director of WSCIJ, Dapo Olorunyomi and Motunrayo Alaka, presented the award to Salami in his Ilorin home.
They said the award should have been presented to the recipient in December 2025, but the retired jurist could not make it to the programme.
Salami, who spoke after receiving the award, noted that the inadequacy and incompetence of some judges are responsible for their wrong verdicts.
He said: “There are a few bad eggs amongst some judges. Strictly speaking, I will not say bad eggs. Some of them have a problem with learning. They don’t have a good background to be judges. Imagine appointing a higher registrar as a judge. He has no experience. In the past, this would not have happened. Maybe due to the population explosion, we have everybody reading law. Every university or college is trying to establish a law faculty. All these may be responsible, not because they are dishonest or corrupt.
“Personally, they are inadequate. This might be responsible for their wrong judgments. At times, if you see the judgments of some of them, even the Supreme Court judgments, you will be astounded and wonder at what is happening.
“For instance, Peter Obi ought not be allowed to contest the 2023 presidential election. In the sense that by the time he lost the PDP primary, LP had submitted its list of members to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). And the Constitution says there cannot be an independent candidacy.’’
“How did he become the candidate of LP if he does not belong to LP? The same thing happened to the Governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, who had now defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). His name is not in the NNPP’s register, but they issued him a membership card and the register is supposed to be the mother of the card.”
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