The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Friday, May 8, for a hearing in a suit seeking to stop former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, was instituted by a lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, who is asking the court to declare Jonathan constitutionally ineligible to seek the presidency again.
Justice Peter Lifu had, on April 28, ordered that hearing notices be issued and served on the defendants after they failed to file responses to the suit.
Jonathan is listed as the first defendant in the matter, while the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation are joined as second and third defendants, respectively.
The plaintiff is seeking an order restraining Jonathan from presenting himself to any political party as a candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
He also prayed the court to stop INEC from accepting or publishing Jonathan’s name as a presidential candidate for the poll.
In the originating summons, the plaintiff asked 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.”
Jideobi argued that Jonathan had already exhausted the constitutional limit of two terms, having completed the tenure of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua before serving another full term after winning the 2011 presidential election.
In an affidavit deposed to by Emmanuel Agida in support of the suit, the plaintiff stated that Jonathan was sworn in as president on May 6, 2010, following Yar’Adua’s death on May 5, 2010.
The affidavit added that reports suggesting Jonathan may contest the 2027 election informed the decision to approach the court.
“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 partly read.
The plaintiff further argued that if Jonathan contests and wins the 2027 election, he would be taking the presidential oath of office for the third time, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
Agida said the suit 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 PUNCH