A former Appeal Court President Justice Isa Salami (retd) on Tuesday said that former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, ought not to be allowed to contest the 2023 presidential elections under the banner of the Labour Party.
Justice Salami also added that the inadequacy and incompetence of some of the judges are responsible for some of their wrong verdicts.
The retired jurist disclosed this in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, during a courtesy visit and presentation of an award to him by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The award was presented to Justice Salami by Founder and Executive Director, WSCIJ, Dapo Olorunyomi and Motunrayo Alaka in his Ilorin country home.
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.
“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. And the Constitution says there cannot be an independent candidacy.
“How did he become a candidate of LP if he does not belong to LP? The same thing happened to the Governor of Kano State, Habba Yusuf, who had now defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). His name is not in the NNDP’s register, but they issued him a membership card, and the register is supposed to be the mother of the card.
“But the Supreme Court Countenanced it, even though the tribunal and Appeal Court frowned at it. That is the problem of competence. People get to the Supreme Court not because they are good but because there is a vacancy in their zone. They supersede people who are their seniors, whom they met at the Court of Appeal and who are more experienced than they are.
“I am a practical example. Some of them who came ten years after I had got to the Court of Appeal, got recommended to the Supreme Court by me because my zone did not have a vacancy. That is the tragedy we have found ourselves in. We hope that with time, everything will be corrected.”
He hailed the WSCIJ for the honour done him by that symbolic gesture.
“I am very happy to receive the award. I hope and pray that your organisation will flourish. I am very sure many people will be eager from time to time to be honoured by you. There is hardly any judge who will not appreciate this type of award coming to him. Even if he is a bad judge, not to talk of others who are very good and dedicated,” he said.
He hinted that Prof Wole Soyinka’s audacity and principles influenced his position on Nigeria’s affairs.
He also revealed that the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo influenced his decision to read law.
“In fact, Chief Awolowo was the one who influenced my decision to read law during his treasonable felony trial. And the government prevented his defence counsel from coming to the country from Britain.
“Chief Awolowo decided to take up his own personal defence. So I thought if I go into politics and I find myself in the same hot spot, I should be able to defend myself,” the jurist added.
