Ozekhome counters Falana, says Jonathan legally qualified to contest 2023 presidency,

Amidst the confusion being generated by speculations that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is doing everything to woo former President Goodluck Jonathan to defect to the party to contest in the 2023 presidential election, fiery lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, has countered the position of his colleague and human rights activist, Femi Falana, (SAN), on the eligibility of Jonathan to run for the office, saying the ex-president is legally qualified to run.

Falana, during the week, had said going by the Nigerian constitution, Jonathan was not qualified to run for the presidency after he had been sworn into office as president on two previous occasions before losing the 2015 election to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Citing Section 137(3) of the fourth alteration to the 1999 constitution which reads;

“A person who was sworn in to complete the term for which another person was elected as president shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term,” Falana had argued that if Jonathan wins the election in 2023, he would spend a cumulative period of nine years as president, contravening the Constitution.

But Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in a legal opinion on Friday, countered the stance of Falana, saying Jonathan was “constitutionally qualified to contest the presidency in 2023.

In the legal opinion, Ozekhome said it would be “grossly unfair” to deny Jonathan the right to contest for the 2023 presidency when the county’s extant laws and court decisions permits him to do so.

Read also: Why Jonathan is not qualified to vie for presidency in 2023 – Falana

“The truth of the matter is that the antagonists of Jonathan running in 2023, in their strange line of argument, are mainly relying on the above section 137(3),” Ozekhome said.

“They have probably not averted their minds to sections 141 of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, and section 285(13) of the same fourth alteration to the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which they are relying on.

“These antagonists did not take cognisance of a subsisting Court of Appeal decision in favour of Mr. Jonathan when was similarly challenged for supposed ineligibility before the 2015 presidential election.

“The section 137(3) being relied upon by the antagonists was signed into law in 2018, three years after Jonathan had left office. Can he be caught in its web retrospectively?

“It is clear that those deliberately misinterpreting the clear position of the law may be baying for Jonathan’s blood, possibly as a potential candidate who may subvert the chances of their preferred candidates,” he said.

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