ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Federal High Court ruled on May 26, 2026, that former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is legally eligible to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Presiding Justice Peter Lifu delivered the judgment, holding that the issue of eligibility had already been decided by Nigeria’s Court of Appeal.
Okay News reports that Justice Peter Lifu dismissed the suit entered against the former president by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Jideobi Johnmary, describing it as frivolous and an abuse of court process.
The court held that the plaintiff lacked the legal right to institute the action. The lawyer had queried the eligibility of Goodluck Jonathan in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025 on the premise that he had already been sworn in as president on two occasions.
The plaintiff posed a lone question for the court to determine: “Whether in view of the combined provisions of the entirety of Sections 1(1), (2) & (3) and 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and their conflated interpretation, is the 1st Defendant eligible, under any circumstances [whatsoever], to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?”
An affidavit of facts was deposed in support of the suit by Emmanuel Agida, who contended that if Goodluck Jonathan wins the 2027 presidential election, which is for a term of 4 years spanning 2027 to 2031, he would exceed the cumulative maximum of 8 years a Nigerian president is statutorily permitted to stay in office.
The affidavit stated that the plaintiff believes the former president exhausted the constitutional limit of two tenures after completing the unexpired term of the late President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and serving a full term after the 2011 election. The document added, “That if the court does not intervene timeously, a political party may present the 1st defendant as its presidential candidate in the 2027 general election, thereby breaching the Constitution.”
