Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Monday Ubani, has stated that former President Goodluck Jonathan remains legally qualified to contest the 2027 presidential election, despite concerns over the constitutional amendment introduced in 2018.
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Speaking as a guest on Arise TV’s Morning Show, Ubani explained that laws in Nigeria, and indeed globally, operate prospectively and not retrospectively, meaning they cannot take away rights or impose obligations before their enactment.
“We cannot enact a law and begin to take away vested rights or impose new obligations when the individual, at the time of making a decision, was not aware of the law. The commencement date of any law is the day the bill is signed into law,” Ubani said.
He noted that the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution, which inserted Section 137(3) in 2017 and came into force in 2018, cannot invalidate Jonathan’s political rights already accrued between 2010 and 2015.
Ubani recalled that Jonathan became president in 2010 following the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, by virtue of Section 146 of the Constitution, not through election. He then contested and won in 2011, and later lost in 2015.
He pointed out that the Federal Capital Territory High Court in 2015 and the Federal High Court in Yenagoa in 2022 had both ruled that Jonathan remained eligible to contest for president, even after the constitutional amendment.
“There has been clear judicial pronouncement that Jonathan is eligible to run,” Ubani stressed.
Responding to arguments raised by Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, and others that Jonathan’s candidacy may trigger constitutional conflict, Ubani dismissed such fears.
“How could a law made in 2017 and operational in 2018 apply to events that occurred in 2010 to 2015? It is legally impossible,” he said, insisting that the judiciary had settled the matter.
Ubani explained that only under military regimes had retrospective laws existed in Nigeria, but under a democratic system, retrospective application of laws is impermissible.
He emphasized that unless the rulings affirming Jonathan’s eligibility are overturned by higher courts, and given that the appeal periods have lapsed, the position remains that Jonathan is qualified to run.
“The law is clear. President Jonathan is eligible to contest in 2027 under the 1999 Constitution, as amended,” Ubani concluded.
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