Human Rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, has countered the position of renowned legal practitioner, Femi Falana, which ruled out former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2023 presidential election.

Ozekhome countered Falana, saying ex-President Jonathan is constitutionally qualified to run for the office of President in 2023.

The Star had reported that Falana said that Jonathan is not eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election, noting that the former President is disqualified under the law.

The legal luminary, in a statement on Thursday, said Jonathan is disqualified from contesting the 2023 presidential election by virtue of Section 137 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“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,” the Section read.

However, Ozekhome, in a statement on Friday, said Jonathan is eligible to vie for the much-coveted seat in the Aso Rock in 2023.

Quoting parts of the Constitution, the Human Rights lawyer stated that if the former President decides to join the 2023 presidential race, he is constitutionally permitted to do so.

He added that it would be “grossly unfair” to deny Jonathan the right to contest the 2023 presidency when the county’s extant laws and court decisions permit him.

Ozekhome stated: “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).

“They have probably not adverted 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.

“More revealing is that these antagonists are probably not aware of an extant and subsisting Court of Appeal decision where Jonathan was frontally confronted and challenged before the 2015 presidential election, on the same ground of being ineligible to contest the said 2015 election, having allegedly been elected for two previous terms of office.

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“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.

“I do not view issues from such a narrow ad hominem prism and blurred binoculars. It will be grossly unfair, unconstitutional, unconscionable and inequitable to deny Jonathan of the right to contest the 2023 presidential election when our extant laws and appellate court decisions permit him to.

“The question of whether Jonathan really needs to subject his glittering and internationally acclaimed reputation and credentials to the muddy waters of a fresh competition with persons, some of whom were his personal appointees as president, is another matter altogether.

“Only him, and not the present state of the laws in Nigeria, can answer that question and decide his own fate. But, as regards his eligibility to contest, Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is pre-eminently constitutionally, morally, and legally qualified to contest the 2023 presidential election,” the legal luminary noted.

Jonathan, who was Nigeria’s Vice-President between 2007 and 2010, has been rumoured to be vying for the number one seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general election.

He became President in May 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and completed the latter’s tenure.

He won the 2011 presidential election but lost the attempt to secure a second term in office in 2015, following the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President.

The Star