A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oba Maduabuchi, has described the recent suit seeking to disqualify former president Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election as an abuse of court process.
The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja by Johnmary Jideobi, seeks an order barring Jonathan from contesting or presenting himself for nomination by any political party in the 2027 general election.
The plaintiff contends that Jonathan is constitutionally barred from contesting again, having completed the tenure of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and subsequently served a full term after winning the 2011 election.
However, in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Maduabuchi dismissed the case as a frivolous re-litigation of a matter previously settled by a court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
“That suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja is an abuse of court process,” he said.
The senior lawyer added that “an abuse of court process arises when someone attempts to reopen a case that has already been conclusively determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.”
“The issue of Dr. Jonathan’s qualification has long been resolved by the Yenagoa court. Since that judgment has not been appealed or overturned, it remains binding and represents the current position of the law,” he stated.
Maduabuchi explained further that Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which bars any person who has taken the presidential oath of office twice from running again, was only introduced in 2018, long after Jonathan last held office.
He argued that it would be unconstitutional and unjust to apply a law enacted years later to disqualify Jonathan retroactively.
He said, “When Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took the oath of office in 2010 to complete Yar’Adua’s tenure and again in 2011 after being elected, Section 137(3) did not exist. There was no law at the time preventing him from serving two terms as permitted by the Constitution. You cannot now seek to punish him for something that was not part of our laws when he served.”
Maduabuchi emphasised that the constitutional amendment cannot operate retrospectively and therefore has no bearing on Jonathan’s eligibility for future elections.
“Until that Yenagoa judgment is set aside by an appellate court, anyone filing a new suit on the same matter is merely wasting the court’s time,” he added.
