A former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Salami (retd), has argued that former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, should not have been eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party.
He made the remarks on Tuesday, March 24, in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a courtesy visit and award presentation by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism at his residence.
The retired jurist also expressed concern over what he described as declining standards within the judiciary, attributing some controversial rulings to gaps in competence among certain judges.
“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.
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“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, 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.
“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.”
Justice Salami also expressed appreciation to the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism for the recognition.
“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.