Amid controversy over the qualification of Goodluck Jonathan to stand for presidential election in 2027, his close relative Azibaola Robert, has declared that there is no obstacle on the ex-president’s way.
He said Jonathan is constitutionally and legally qualified to contest the 2027 Nigerian presidential election.
He spoke in reaction to Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and Minister of Aviation, who urged the PDP not to nominate Jonathan as he had been sworn in twice.
Similarly, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a prominent human rights lawyer, also suggested that the former president is constitutionally ineligible to run.
But Azibaola, who is a cousin of the former president, maintained that Jonathan is constitutionally qualified to contest the next elections if he chooses to.
He emphasised that if GEJ chooses not to yield to the overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.
He reminded both Keyamo and Odinkalu that he is also a lawyer who was also a pro-democracy activist in the 1990s.
Azibaola wrote on his Facebook page: "Dear Festus Keyamo, SAN, Chidi Odinkalu (Prof.), I greet both of you. For the record, we are three lawyers.
"We all were pro-democracy activists in the 90s, and I was a better activist than both of you combined.
"RULE NO. 1: Do not offer legal advice where none is solicited. Goodluck Jonathan has numerous, more celebrated, more experienced SANs at his disposal who give him sound, unblemished, professional legal advice only.
"GEJ is 100% constitutionally and legally qualified to contest if he chooses to. If he chooses not to yield to his overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.
"Your screwed, unsolicited legal view is not of any concern in his bucket list, and it will never be. Don't waste your precious times further dwelling on this.
"Or should you schedule a meeting with me so you can get properly educated on the subsisting court judgements on this, one of which your party, APC, was a party?
"I beg una, make we no dey put too much water inside belle for another person disco dance, make long line no form for latrine door.”
NATIONAL POST recalls that there has been speculation that Jonathan would join the presidential race as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate.
The thinking is that having done one term, he would be more acceptable to the North who wants power back in 2031.
