Former President Goodluck Jonathan is presently evaluating offers from four significant political parties to contest the 2027 presidential election, a new report has revealed.
This development coincides with the emergence of a previously undisclosed court judgment affirming his legal eligibility to run for the nation’s highest office once again.
According to a THISDAY report, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and the recently formed coalition, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), are all actively competing for the former President.
The report states that “sources close to the former President told THISDAY last night, that he has been approached by three political parties and one undisclosed– each wanting him to contest the presidency on their platforms.”
This intense political interest is heavily influenced by a 2022 Federal High Court ruling in Yenagoa, which provides the legal foundation for his potential candidacy.
Justice Isah Dashem, in his judgment, declared that “the 1st Defendant is not disqualified by the provisions of Section 137(1)(b) and (3) of the Constitution from contesting for election into the Office of the President.”
The court firmly held that the constitutional amendments intended to limit terms “does not have retrospective application” and therefore cannot nullify the right Jonathan acquired before the law was altered in 2018.
The calculation behind the intense lobbying, as analysed by the report, is that “Jonathan can only legally seek one more term and could assuage the feelings of northern voters who accuse President Tinubu of marginalisation.”
This positions him as a uniquely viable consensus candidate capable of mounting a formidable challenge against the incumbent.
Aides to the former President, however, have clarified that “he is still consulting on whether to throw his hat in the ring for 2027.”
The legal clarity provided by the court judgment is pivotal. The suit, filed by two APC members in Bayelsa, had sought to disqualify Jonathan, arguing that his previous tenure—completing late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s term and winning his own in 2011—constituted two elected terms.
Justice Dashem thoroughly dismissed this argument, noting that the plaintiffs’ contention was “spurious, baseless and unsubstantiated.” He clarified that Jonathan was only elected as president on one previous occasion, in 2011, and that his initial assumption of office was a succession, not an election.
Furthermore, the judge emphasised that the new constitutional provision “was not part of our Constitution prior to June 7, 2018,” and since the legislature did not express “retroactive or retrospective application by express and unequivocal words,” it cannot be applied to Jonathan.
The court concluded that Jonathan’s right to contest was “vested in him on May 29, 2015,” when his term ended, and a new law cannot take away an already acquired right. This legal victory, which remains unappealed and subsisting, has effectively neutralised a significant potential obstacle to Jonathan’s return to the political arena.
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