The Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed an appeal challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the March 28, 2015 Presidential election maintaining that President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to stand for election for his second tenure of office as President.
In a unanimous judgment
yesterday evening, the appellate court said that the President was qualified to
seek for another term of office having not participated in the two previous
elections for the office of the office as prescribed by law.
Justice Abubakar Yahaya who
delivered the lead judgment held that the oath of office taken by Jonathan on
May 6, 2010 to complete the tenure of late President Umaru Musa Yar Adua was
not on account of election required by law but by operations of the
constitution.
In specific terms, the Court
of Appeal held that Jonathan’s participation in the 2007 election was in the
Vice Presidential capacity and that the oath he took on May 29, 2007 was for
the office of vice President while late Yar Adua took oath of the President.
Justice Yahaya held that for
anybody to be said to have been in the office of President for two terms in line
with the provisions of section 135, he must have been nominated by a political
party twice, stood and won elections twice and took oath of office in the
capacity of the President twice.
The appellate court held that
on May 6, 2010 when Jonathan took oath office to complete the tenure of his
late boss, there was no nomination by any political party, no voting by
Nigerians but got to the office on the operations of the constitution.
A Chieftain of the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party PDP Chief Cyricaus Njoku had dragged Jonathan before
an Abuja high court seeking his disqualification on account of taking oath of
office for the same office in 2010 and 2011.
A panel of five Justices of
the appellate court, headed by Justice Abubakar Yahaya, in a unanimous judgment
delivered yesterday held that the appellant's suit was speculative and
imaginary.
The court held that President Jonathan is qualified to contest the office of the President of the country in the forth coming elections.
Justice Yahaya said President Jonathan's second term tenure will not end on May 29, 2015 because his first tenure of office started in 2011, when he took the oath of office and allegiance as an elected President of the country.
The judge said it was not an election that produced Jonathan as President in May 2010 and that the oath of office could not have been the oath of an elected president, adding also that the process that brought President Jonathan in 2010 was not electoral process, but a constitutional provision.
"The appeal lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed, a cost of N50, 000 is hereby awarded against the appellant", the court said and upheld the judgment of the trial court delivered on March 1, 2013.
Cyriacus Njoku had approached an Abuja High Court through his Lawyer, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, with a suit seeking a declaration that the tenure of office as President of Goodluck Jonathan, the 1st Defendant, began on May 6th, 2010 when his first term began and his two terms shall end on May 29, 2015 after taking his second Oath on May 29th, 2011.
He also urged the court to stop Jonathan from further contesting or attempting to vie for the office of the President of Nigeria.
However, on March 13, 2013, the trial Court delivered its judgment, dismissing the case and upholding that President Jonathan was free to contest the 2015 presidential election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
On April 16, 2013, Njoku filed a notice of appeal seeking the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of Justice Oniyangi and in its stead grant all the reliefs sought by him.
While the appeal was pending, President Jonathan went ahead, collected the presidential nomination form of the PDP and declared his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election without awaiting the outcome of the appeal filed by Mr. Njoku.
Aggrieved by this development Barrister Obla, Njoku's lawyer filed a motion seeking to nullify the PDP National Convention where Jonathan emerged as the party's Presidential.
The court held that President Jonathan is qualified to contest the office of the President of the country in the forth coming elections.
Justice Yahaya said President Jonathan's second term tenure will not end on May 29, 2015 because his first tenure of office started in 2011, when he took the oath of office and allegiance as an elected President of the country.
The judge said it was not an election that produced Jonathan as President in May 2010 and that the oath of office could not have been the oath of an elected president, adding also that the process that brought President Jonathan in 2010 was not electoral process, but a constitutional provision.
"The appeal lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed, a cost of N50, 000 is hereby awarded against the appellant", the court said and upheld the judgment of the trial court delivered on March 1, 2013.
Cyriacus Njoku had approached an Abuja High Court through his Lawyer, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, with a suit seeking a declaration that the tenure of office as President of Goodluck Jonathan, the 1st Defendant, began on May 6th, 2010 when his first term began and his two terms shall end on May 29, 2015 after taking his second Oath on May 29th, 2011.
He also urged the court to stop Jonathan from further contesting or attempting to vie for the office of the President of Nigeria.
However, on March 13, 2013, the trial Court delivered its judgment, dismissing the case and upholding that President Jonathan was free to contest the 2015 presidential election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
On April 16, 2013, Njoku filed a notice of appeal seeking the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of Justice Oniyangi and in its stead grant all the reliefs sought by him.
While the appeal was pending, President Jonathan went ahead, collected the presidential nomination form of the PDP and declared his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election without awaiting the outcome of the appeal filed by Mr. Njoku.
Aggrieved by this development Barrister Obla, Njoku's lawyer filed a motion seeking to nullify the PDP National Convention where Jonathan emerged as the party's Presidential.
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