Adegboruwa Denies Opinion On Obi

Eminent Lagos lawyer and activist Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, has distanced himself from a legal opinion on the eligibility of Peter Obi to have contested the February 25 presidential election.

GWG.ng reports that the legal opinion purports that Obi was not a member of the Labour Party and as such should not have contested the presidential election.

The post reads:

“LAWYERS IN THE HOUSE cc: @⁨Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN⁩          

Peter Obi is not the candidate of LP:

“According to  Section 77 (2&3) of the electoral act 2022, Peter Obi is not a member of Labour party. As a result, he is not qualified to contest the February 25,2023 presidential election. Section 77 (2) says every political party must have/maintain a register of its member in soft and hard copy. 77(3) says  each party SHALL MAKE THAT REGISTER AVAILABLE TO INEC NOT LATER THAN 30 DAYS BEFORE THE DATE FIXED FOR PRIMARIES, CONGRESSES OR CONVENTION.  PDP screened all presidential candidates on April 29th, 2022. Peter Obi participated in that screening and was cleared. Obi even displayed his provisional clearance on social media. He resigned from PDP on Thursday May 26th, 2022 to join Labour party on April 27th, 2022. Labour party conducted her presidential primary on May 30th, 2022 and it produced Obi after Prof. Pat Utomi voluntary withdrawal for Obi.

“According to the section 77(3), Labour party ought to have submitted the party register to INEC 30 days before the presidential primary. By calculation, 30 days to May, 30th, 2022 was April 30, 2022. As at April 30th, 2022 when labour party had submitted the party register to INEC, Peter Obi was a member of PDP. So, Obi name was not part of those in the party comprehensive register that was submitted to INEC. The question is, can a candidate who is not a valid member of a   political  party contest for presidential election? Can a political party nominate non member to participate in presidential election? The tribunal will be of fireworks and shall be interesting in days to come.”

However, dismissing the post on Obi, Adegboruwa said in a statement that it “is not my opinion”, adding: “It purports to be an inquiry in which I was allegedly copied. Nonetheless, I must state that this is not my view.

“As stated earlier, I’m not a member of any political party and I have neither been engaged by nor accepted the brief of any political party in respect any post-election litigation.

“It is not in my place to determine or pontificate on who or who is not a member of any political party. Like other Nigerians, I am bound by and will accept the outcome of any and all lawful engagements by all concerned for the ventilation of grievances.

“Thank you all.”

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