A former President of the Court of Appeal, Isa Salami, has said that Peter Obi was not eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Salami attributed what he described as wrong judicial outcomes to the incompetence of some judges.
He made the remarks in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a visit by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
According to him, Obi should not have been allowed to run after losing the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, noting that the Labour Party had already submitted its membership list to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He argued that the constitution does not recognise independent candidacy, questioning how Obi became a candidate of the Labour Party without being a registered member at the time.
Salami cited a similar situation involving Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, stating that although his name was not in his party’s register, he was issued a membership card.
He noted that while the tribunal and Court of Appeal rejected such inconsistencies, the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld them, which he described as a problem of judicial competence.
