Former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, has said that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan can not legally contest the 2027 presidential election.
In an opinion article launched on Thursday, Justice Salami mentioned the 1999 Constitution, as amended, prevents any particular person from occupying the workplace of president for greater than eight years.
He defined that Jonathan, having accomplished the tenure of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua earlier than serving a full time period of his personal, is constitutionally ineligible to hunt the place once more.
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Salami mentioned any try by the previous president to return to workplace would quantity to a breach of the regulation, stressing that such a victory wouldn’t face up to judicial scrutiny.
“It is painstakingly and dispassionately demonstrated abundantly to all and sundry that ambition of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to contest for the office of the president for the second term in the 2027 general election is effectively and undoubtedly shot down,” Salami mentioned.
He additional warned {that a} court docket problem would inevitably nullify any mandate Jonathan may safe, because the constitutional provisions on presidential tenure are express and binding.
The former Appeal Court President’s interpretation aligns with earlier authorized opinions asserting that Jonathan’s earlier assumption of workplace below Yar’Adua’s unexpired mandate counts as one full time period, thereby disqualifying him from future presidential contests.
