Following the assertion by a former Minister of Information and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan will run on the platform of the party in 2027, the former South-East spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Denge Josef Onoh has affirmed that former president Jonathan is eligible to run and highly welcome to challenge President Tinubu in his second term bid.
According to Onoh, it is up to Nigerians to decide who leads them, just as he promised that the Tinubu administration will not infringe on any opponents’ right to contest.
Onoh, who spoke to newsmen in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Tuesday believed that Jonathan’s eligibility under constitutional term limits is already a settled legal precedent that was established through unchallenged judicial rulings.
His position on the issue pertaining to the views expressed by Professor Gana on that Jonathan will contest came barely 24 hours after a PDP presidential aspirant, Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim said there would be no automatic ticket for the former president.
Expatiation on his position, Onoh asserted that Jonathan’s qualification to contest future elections had been settled legally, rendering further litigation unnecessary and untimely.
He advised him to guide against betrayal by anyone telling him otherwise.
He equally urged Tinubu to be wary of the antics of the few that may be playing double standard, whereas they are wolves in a ship clothing.
‘It was exactly how Jonathan’s inner cabal during the build up to 2015 elections deceived him to believe he was invisible, Nigerians love him, to the extent he was too carried away that he felt invisible and never saw you coming. ‘You Mr. President was the invisible magician that cast the spell that led to his loss at the poll. Don’t fall in the same trap by the voices that surround you now. The one major sincere voice you should listen to is your wife, the first lady if the federal republic of Nigeria. Many will betray you in the coming months,’ he warned.
Onoh further stated that had obtained a certified true copy of a binding and unappealed judgment in May 2022, of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State (Suit No. FHC/YNG/CS/86/2022) affirming that the court delivered a definitive ruling in a case brought by All Progressives Congress members: Andy Solomon and Ibidiye Abraham against Jonathan, the APC, and INEC.
He stated that in the document, Justice Isa H. Dashen held that Jonathan is ‘constitutionally eligible to contest the presidency again.’.
The court, he argued, reasoned that: ‘Jonathan’s assumption of office on May 6, 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was not an ‘election’ under Section 137(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). It was a succession to complete Yar’Adua’s unexpired term, invoking the ‘doctrine of necessity’ and not counting toward the two-term limit for elected mandates.
‘Jonathan was ‘elected only once’-in the 2011 presidential election-serving a full four-year term until 2015. His 2015 bid was a legitimate reelection attempt, defeated at the polls, but it did not exhaust his constitutional allowance.
The 2018 constitutional amendment (via the Fourth Alteration Act), which added Section 137(3) to bar anyone ‘sworn in twice’ from further contests, does not apply retroactively to Jonathan. As the amendment postdated his tenures (2010-2015), it cannot retroactively disqualify rights accrued under the pre-amendment framework. Onoh stated that Ex post facto laws are impermissible in Nigeria’s constitutional democracy, a principle reinforced by precedents like the Court of Appeal’s 2015 ruling in Cyriacus Njoku v. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2015) LPELR-24496(CA), which similarly excluded his 2010 oath from term-counting calculations.’
Onoh asserted that the 2022 judgment was ‘never appealed’ by the plaintiffs or any party, despite the 90-day window under the Constitution and relevant electoral laws. Over three years later (as of September 2025), the ruling stands as final and binding under the doctrine of res judicata-barring relitigation of the same issues between the same parties. Hence i urge Mr. President not to listen to anyone who comes to spin him with legal possibilities of Jonathan’s eligibility because Nigerian jurisprudence, including Supreme Court decisions like Marwa v. Nyako (2012) 6 NWLR (Pt. 1296) 200, upholds such precedents to ensure legal certainty and prevent endless challenges to settled rights.
Onoh claimed that It’s too late for the aggrieved to challenge the judgment.
Onoh said that the Supreme Court has consistently ruled against ‘stale’ claims that could have been appealed timely (e.g., A.G. Federation v. A.G. Abia State (2001) 11 NWLR (Pt. 725) 689).
– Precedent from 2013: An earlier Federal High Court ruling (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/231/2013, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi) cleared Jonathan to run in 2015, also unappealed, forming the bedrock for the 2022 decision. This chain of unassailed judgments creates an impregnable legal shield.
Onoh said that in his opinion, ‘eligibility is a settled constitutional right, not open to political conjecture. I’m aware many critics in the past have framed opposition as a ‘risk’ for parties fielding him, will face a disqualification, acknowledging the unresolved tension with the 2018 amendment-but the 2022 ruling resolves it in Jonathan’s favor.
In essence, the matter is not pending a ‘jury’ (or judiciary) trial; it was conclusively decided. Suggesting otherwise risks undermining judicial authority by implying courts must revisit final verdicts at political whim, eroding the stability essential to Nigeria’s electoral process. I owe Mr. President the truth before he’s betrayed again by politicians waving successful statistics around him without any knowledge of how Nigerians truly perceive your administration which isn’t encouraging at the moment but it’s within your powers to change the narratives to your favour.
To honor the rule of law If Jonathan enters the 2027 race, I advise President Tinubu to engage on visions for economic revival, security, and unity, this elevates the conversation, respecting Jonathan’s cleared path while focusing on voters’ priorities. Nigeria’s democracy thrives when legal finality frees space for ideas, not recycled litigation.