A lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to bar former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, Jideobi is also urging the court to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting or publishing Jonathan’s name as a candidate of any political party for the election.
Listed as defendants are Jonathan, INEC, and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The plaintiff wants the court to determine whether, in view of Sections 1(1-3) and 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the former president remains eligible to contest for the office of president.
He is seeking a declaration that Jonathan is constitutionally ineligible to contest or occupy the presidency again, having been sworn in twice – first in 2010 to complete the term of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and again in 2011 after winning the election.
Jideobi argued that Jonathan has exhausted the constitutional limit of two terms and that allowing him to contest again would violate the Constitution.
He said he filed the suit in the public interest to defend the rule of law and prevent a breach of constitutional order.
According to the affidavit supporting the suit, Jideobi noted that he saw reports in the media suggesting that Jonathan was being considered for the 2027 race.
He stated that the former president had already taken the oath of office twice and that contesting again would amount to a third tenure, contrary to the Constitution.
Constitutional debate
To clarify eligibility questions for vice presidents or deputy governors who complete unexpired terms of their principals, the National Assembly in 2018 inserted subsection 3 into Sections 137 and 182 of the Constitution through the Fourth Alteration Act.
Section 137(3) states: ‘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.’
However, legal experts remain divided on whether this provision applies to Jonathan.
What the courts have said
In a May 27, 2022, Justice Isa Dashen of the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, held that Section 137(3) could not apply retroactively and that Jonathan, who only won a presidential election once in 2011, was not barred from running again.
He delivered judgment on a suit by Andy Solomon and Idibiye Abraham, who asked the court to declare Jonathan ineligible,
The judge held that the oath Jonathan took in May 2010 was not a result of an election but a constitutional succession following Yar’Adua’s death, stressing that the new constitutional clause had no retrospective effect.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal in Abuja had in a March 3, 2015 judgment affirmed Jonathan’s eligibility to contest the 2015 election.
The appellate court held that the 2010 oath merely completed Yar’Adua’s tenure and did not count as an election.
Justice Abubakar Yahaya, who delivered the lead judgment, said: ‘Disqualification is through election, not oath-taking. When a Vice President succeeds a President who dies, that cannot be deemed an election.’
Mimiko denies leading Jonathan’s 2027 consultations
Former Ondo State Governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has denied reports claiming he was appointed to lead Jonathan’s 2027 presidential consultation team in the Southwest.
It was alleged that Mimiko was recommended by former Osun State governor and African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Rauf Aregbesola, to head the consultations.
But in a statement by his media aide, Eniola Akinsola, Mimiko dismissed the report as ‘falsehood’ and ‘a concocted rumour dressed in news.’
He said he had not been contacted for any campaign assignment and was not seeking such a role.
‘The falsehood in the report is obvious from the get-go,’ the statement said.
‘Mimiko respects former President Jonathan but has neither been reached nor appointed for any campaign that remains the subject of speculation. He is not job-hunting to lead any campaign.’
The statement added that as political activities gather pace ahead of 2027, such stories will become common, particularly about political figures who have chosen to remain low-profile for now.
Last week, former Minister of Information and PDP stalwart Prof. Jerry Gana claimed that Jonathan would contest the 2027 election on the PDP platform, saying Nigerians were yearning for his return.
But presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga dismissed Gana’s claim as ‘an absurdity,’ warning Jonathan to beware of politicians trying to lure him into the race for selfish reasons.
‘Politicians of Jerry Gana’s ilk merely want to lure him into the race to satisfy their personal, political, and ethnic interests. They will abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015,’ Onanuga said.