The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a hearing for Friday, May 8, in a suit asking the court to bar former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
The suit, filed by lawyer Johnmary Jideobi and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, asks the court to declare Jonathan constitutionally ineligible to seek the presidency again. Jonathan is named as the first defendant; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation are joined as second and third defendants.
Justice Peter Lifu ordered on April 28 that hearing notices be issued and served on the defendants after they failed to file responses to the suit.
In the originating summons, the plaintiff asks the court to determine “whether in view of the combined provisions of Sections 1(1), (2) and (3) and 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the 1st defendant is eligible, under any circumstances whatsoever, to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The plaintiff is seeking an injunction restraining Jonathan from presenting himself to any political party as a candidate for the 2027 presidential election, and asking the court to prohibit INEC from accepting or publishing Jonathan’s name as a presidential candidate.
In an affidavit deposed to by Emmanuel Agida in support of the suit, the plaintiff says Jonathan was sworn in as president on May 6, 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 5, 2010. The affidavit says reports that Jonathan may contest the 2027 election prompted the legal action.
“That the plaintiff believes that the 1st defendant, having completed the unexpired term of late President Yar’Adua and subsequently served a full term after the 2011 election, has exhausted the constitutional limit of two tenures as president,” the affidavit reads in part.
The plaintiff further contends that if Jonathan contests and wins the 2027 election, he would be taking the presidential oath for a third time, in contravention of the Constitution. The suit, the affidavit says, was filed “in the public interest, in defence of the rule of law and accentuation of the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the integrity of the Nigerian constitutional order.”
The case will be heard before Justice Lifu on May 8. The office of the former president and representatives for INEC and the Attorney-General had not filed a response by the court’s April 28 order.
