Only Osinbajo constitutionally eligible for APC presidential ticket: Kayode Ajulo
A lawyer and rights activist, Kayode Ajulo, says of the 25 presidential aspirants within the ruling All Progressives Congress, only Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is untainted.
Mr Ajulo made the assertion in a memo to President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the APC on Sunday in Abuja.
“At the risk of sounding partisan, wisdom behoves that I acknowledge the clear reality that Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, is perhaps the singular aspirant whose aspiration remains untainted.”
He said that there were very few aspirants among the motley crowd whose conduct in the public sphere had remained unblemished over the 25 years of public participation.
“Specifically, Chapter VI, Part 1, Section 131, and 137 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) outlines the basic requirements to be met by a candidate to be eligible for an election into the office of the President in Nigeria,” he quoted.
He advised the party to accept constitutional eligibility for all its presidential aspirants ahead of the upcoming party’s presidential primaries.
The lawyer said that it was imperative to exercise pragmatism by examining the constituents of a candidate’s eligibility within the confines of the law and as enshrined in the constitution.
He said that eligibility remained an essential factor which must be upheld, and critically considered if the party must attain a credible process free from nullity and regrettable encumbrances.
Mr Ajulo said that the APC must take a cue from the fate that befell it in Bayelsa in the 2020 governorship election.
APC lost Bayelsa to the PDP due to the ineligibility of the party’s candidate, Biobarakunu Degi, as the deputy governor over a certificate scandal.
He urged the APC leadership not to feign ignorance of its political adversary’s devices and remain cognisant that their legal advisers were keenly observing the APC’s nomination processes.
Mr Ajulo added that they could help ascertain the status of its aspirants with respect to their possible multiple allegiances to other sovereign nations.
(NAN)
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