A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oba Maduabuchi, has faulted the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking to disqualify former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election, describing it as an “abuse of court process” and a needless attempt to reopen an issue already decided by a competent court.
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Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday, Maduabuchi said the question of Jonathan’s eligibility had been conclusively settled by a Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, which ruled in 2022 that the former president was qualified to contest. He added that the judgment has not been appealed, making it the subsisting legal position.
“That suit in the Federal High Court, Abuja, is an abuse of court process,” he stated. “An abuse of court process is when you want to relitigate a case or an issue that has already been settled by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The issue of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s qualification or non-qualification has been settled by the court in Yenagoa. Nobody has taken that issue on appeal. Until that judgment is set aside, it remains the law. Anybody who decides to take it to a court of coordinate jurisdiction is simply abusing the process of the court and is a busybody.”
The senior lawyer emphasized that the 2018 constitutional amendment Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution which restricts any person who has previously completed another’s tenure from serving more than one additional term did not exist when Jonathan first took the oath of office in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
According to him, it would be unconstitutional to apply the 2018 law retroactively.
“What controls any given situation is the position of the law when the act in issue was done. When Jonathan took the oath of office in 2010, Section 137(3) was not part of our laws.
There was no statutory limitation that could inhibit him from running two full terms under the constitution as it stood then. So when you brought in the amendment in 2018, Jonathan had long taken his oaths. How can you now punish him for a law that didn’t exist when he acted?”
To illustrate his point, Maduabuchi compared the situation to the 1983 execution of drug offenders under the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, which attracted backlash because the death penalty was not in existence when the offense was committed.
He said:
“It’s not possible to punish Goodluck Jonathan for a legal position that didn’t exist when he took the oath of office. It’s just like when Buhari executed Bartholomew Owoh and others in 1983 for smuggling cocaine when the death penalty wasn’t yet law. That was retroactive punishment — and our law forbids it.”
He further dismissed claims that the matter still required judicial clarification, saying the principle of legal certainty forbids such.
“Law is about certainty. The certainty here is that in 2010 and 2011, when Jonathan took the oaths, Section 137(3) didn’t exist. It cannot apply to him now. Unless, of course, it’s a miracle — only Jesus turned water into wine. No judge can turn a non-existent law into one that suddenly applies retroactively.”
The SAN also cited a 2022 judgment by the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, which held that Jonathan was eligible to contest the presidency and that no law made after he left office could disqualify him.
He referenced Andy Solomon & Anor. v. APC & Ors (FHC/YNG/CS/86/2022), where Justice Isa Dashen ruled that Jonathan’s right to contest “cannot be stopped by any retroactive law.”
Turning to the broader implications of the case, Maduabuchi criticized lawyers who continue to file suits on already settled matters, describing them as “ambulance chasers” and “busy bodies.”
“We shouldn’t waste time over the false exertions of busybody lawyers pursuing a matter that doesn’t exist,” he said. “The courts have spoken — Jonathan is eligible.”
Switching focus, the senior advocate also spoke about Nigeria’s electoral system, urging urgent amendments to the Electoral Act to make elections more credible and reduce the culture of endless litigation.
According to him, the current framework unfairly places the burden of proof on petitioners, who often lack access to the materials and evidence controlled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It’s like asking someone outside to tell me how I slept in my bedroom,” he said. “The burden should be on INEC to prove that it conducted a proper election, not on a petitioner who didn’t conduct it.”
He proposed that sections of the Evidence Act should be excluded from electoral litigation to ensure fairness, while election officials found guilty of falsifying results should face prosecution.
“If in a polling unit only 10 people voted, but 35 votes are returned, the polling officer should face punishment. But in Nigeria, such officials walk home freely, often rewarded with money from those who benefited from the fraud,” he lamented.
Maduabuchi further called for a review of how INEC chairmen are appointed, suggesting that retired Supreme Court justices who no longer have political ambitions—should oversee the process instead of the president.
“If you remove the president from the appointment process, you remove bias,” he said. “We can’t keep having presidents appoint people who’ll later supervise elections they are interested in.”
He, however, admitted that corruption remains a major obstacle.
“Nigeria is a country where corruption is our breath. It doesn’t matter how you made your money; people only celebrate that you have money. Even in INEC, some resident electoral commissioners are compromised before elections. They’re given houses and millions before they assume duty. How then do we expect fairness?”
Despite his frustration, Maduabuchi said Nigerians must not lose faith in the democratic process.
“We can’t be despondent,” he said. “We must continue to propose alternatives, hoping that one day we’ll have another Attahiru Jega — a gentleman who proved that credible elections are possible.”
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