Okoi Obono-Obla, a former presidential aide and spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council in Cross River State, says the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi is not eligible for next month’s presidential election.
The chieftain said Obi contested and won the LP ticket when he was not a member of the political party.
Speaking during an interview in Calabar, Obono-Obla quoted section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022, saying “each party is required to maintain a membership register in hard and soft copy and to make such register available to the Independent National Electoral Commission not later than 30 days before the date fixed for primaries, congresses, and conventions.”
According to the lawyer, as at the time Obi won the presidential primaries of the LP, his name was not on a mandatory list submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which contained the names of all members of the party.
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He said, “On April 30, 2022, INEC demanded all political parties to submit registers of its members. The Labour Party held its presidential primaries on 31 May 2022. Peter Obi joined the Labour Party on 27 May 2022. It follows that as of 31 May 2022 when Peter Obi purportedly won the ticket of the Labour Party, his name was not on the register of the Labour Party which had been submitted to INEC in compliance with the requirement of Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
The APC stalwart insisted that one of the constitutional requirements to become a President is that the candidate must belong to a political party.
However, the chairman and governorship candidate of the LP in Cross River State, Ogar Osim, responding to Obono-Obla’s claim via a text message to Daily Post, said in their party, they have waivers.
He wrote: “There’s a provision for a waiver in Labour Party.”
