A Federal High Court in Abuja will on Friday hear a suit seeking to restrain former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
The suit, filed by lawyer Johnmary Jideobi, prays the court to declare Jonathan constitutionally ineligible to seek or hold the office of president again.
Jideobi is asking the court for an order restraining Jonathan from presenting himself to any political party as a presidential candidate for the 2027 election. He also wants an order barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting or publishing Jonathan’s name as a candidate.
Jonathan is listed as the first defendant in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025. INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) are the second and third defendants respectively.The plaintiff wants 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 argues that Jonathan has already exhausted the constitutional two-term limit. He served the unexpired term of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua after being sworn in on May 6, 2010, and then served a full four-year term after winning the 2011 presidential election.
In an affidavit in support of the suit, Emmanuel Agida, who deposed on behalf of the plaintiff, stated that reports of Jonathan’s alleged interest in the 2027 race prompted the legal action.
“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.
The plaintiff warned that if the court does not intervene, a political party could present Jonathan as its candidate, breaching the Constitution. He added that if Jonathan were to contest and win in 2027, it would mark the third time he would take the presidential oath of office.
The suit, according to the plaintiff, was filed “in the public interest, in the defence of the rule of law and accentuation of the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the integrity of the Nigerian constitutional order”.
On April 28, Justice Peter Lifu ordered that hearing notices be served on the defendants, who are yet to file their responses to the suit. The case is scheduled to come up on Friday, May 8.
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