2027 Shockwave: Court Gives Goodluck Jonathan Green Light to Run for President

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has cleared former President Goodluck Jonathan to participate in the 2027 presidential race.

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the leadership of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, last week offered a waiver to Jonathan as the only presidential candidate of the party.

But one Johnmary Jideobi had instituted a suit seeking an order restraining Jonathan from presenting himself to any political party as a candidate for the 2027 presidential election.

The plaintiff had earlier asked the court to stop INEC from accepting, processing or publishing Jonathan’s name as a presidential candidate.

He asked the court to determine whether, having regard to Sections 1(1), (2), (3) and 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, Jonathan remains eligible to seek the office of president again.

But in his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Peter Lifu held that Jonathan could participate in the election as a contestant.

Jonathan served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari and was the first incumbent president in Nigerian history to lose re-election.