AN
Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi on Friday ruled
that President Goodluck Jonathan is empowered by law to contest the 2015
presidential elections.
The court verdict elicited instant
reactions from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which described
it as a victory for democracy while the opposition Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC) said the PDP should not rejoice yet as the Supreme Court would
have the last say on the matter.
The court said that President Jonathan is
eligible to contest the forthcoming 2015 presidential election if he so
desires.
The court also held that Jonathan’s
assumption of the office of the president after the demise of the late former
President Umaru Yar’Adua was a product of what the National Assembly described
as doctrine of necessity, and not a result of emerging winner in any
by-election after the death of the late former president.
He said: “After the death of Umaru
Yar’Adua, there was no election or by-election. President Jonathan was merely
asked to assume the office of the president in line with the doctrine of
necessity. He was not elected as the president but was made to assume office by
virtue of Yar’Adua’s death.
“Having exhausted the late president’s
tenure, he sought his party’s ticket and ran for the office of the president
successfully in 2011 general election. He is, therefore, currently serving his
first tenure of office; and if he so wishes, he is eligible to further seek his
party’s ticket through the party’s primary election and run for office in
2015.”
Justice Oniyangi, however, stressed that
his judgment should not be in any way misconstrued to mean that Jonathan has
become the automatic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the
2015 presidential election.
According to him, Jonathan’s tenure of
office began to count from May 29, 2011 when he was sworn into office as the
elected president of Nigeria, and not May 6, 2010 when he assumed office
following Yar’Adua’s death.
The court further held that the suit, as
presently constituted, does not disclose any cause of action and that the
plaintiff, Cyriacus Njoku, lacked locus standi in instituting the case.
He described Mr. Njoku’s suit as premature,
since the president had not obtained any form from his party for the 2015
election, nor had the PDP commenced its primary elections for the purpose of
selecting its standard-bearer for the same election.
Justice Oniyangi said that Njoku ought to
have waited for the PDP to commence its primary election and then complain if its
process is breached, since nomination and sponsorship of candidates for any
election is an internal affair of the party.
He declined to restrain the PDP and the
Independent National Election Commission (INEC) from submitting and accepting
Jonathan’s name as a candidate for the 2015 presidential election.
Njoku had approached the court seeking an
order to restrain Jonathan from running for the office of president in 2015,
saying this would amount to a breach of a constitutional provision that
prescribes a period of not more than eight years for occupants of the office.
He contended that Jonathan first took the
oath of office and oath of allegiance on the 6th of May, 2010, following the
demise of Yar’Adua (with whom he was first elected in 2007) and later took
another oath of office and allegiance on the 29th of May, 2011 for the purpose
of executing the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
But Jonathan, through his counsel, Ade
Okeanya-Inneh (SAN), had argued that he was doing his first term of four years
in office as president as provided by the constitution, and that the same
constitution makes provisions for a president to contest for not more than two
terms of four years each.
The PDP, in its reaction to the judgment,
has described the ruling as another victory for the nation’s democracy.
The spokesman for the party, Chief Olisa
Metuh, said the judgment had put to rest, debates on whether or not Jonathan
could contest the 2015 election. Metuh said that it was left to the president, the
party and Nigerians to decide.
In a statement, the party said that the
ruling had freed the nation from the shackles of intimidation and harassment by
“some desperate elements seeking to impose themselves on Nigerians.
“The import of this judgment is that it is
now left for the PDP and Nigerians to decide, through legitimate processes,
whether or not to return President Jonathan to the presidency in 2015, if he
indicates interest,” the party’s statement reads.
Meanwhile, the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) has advised the PDP not to jubilate yet, noting that only the Supreme
Court has the final say.
In a chat with the Saturday Tribune, the
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the Abuja
court is a court of first instance, and that the appellate and supreme courts
could still make pronouncements over the matter.
“Nobody should rejoice yet. The Court of
Appeal and the Supreme Court have the final say. It is only when the apex court
makes a pronouncement that parties can rejoice or complain,” he said.
He stressed that the CPC was not concerned
about Jonathan as a person, but the implication on the democratic life of the
nation, noting that if Jonathan contests and wins in 2015, he would have spent
10 years in office.
“Is that the intention of the constitution?
Was that what the drafters of our constitution envisage? We in CPC believe this
cannot be the intention of the constitution when it stipulates two terms.
“That is why judicial interpretation is key
in this issue. This should be taken to its logical conclusion. It would be good
to hear (the Supreme) court’s final ruling; such apex court will help to clear
the ambiguity that may exist.”
Reacting to the judgement, the Chairman of
Ikeja, Lagos, branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Monday Onyekachi,
noted that Jonathan was not constitutionally inhibited from contesting the
election but was morally barred from doing so, having told Nigerians earlier
that he needed only a term to transform the nation and quit.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prince Segun
Ajibola, hailed the judgment, noting that Jonathan is constitutionally
qualified to contest for another term in office as president.
He affirmed that his assumption of the
office upon the death of his predecessor, was a product of necessity and not as
a result of an election.
According to him, Section 131 and
subsections A-D and Section 137 of the 1999 Constitution subsections I-J spell
out the qualifications, requirements and/or eligibility of a person to contest
for and occupy the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The hurdle created by subsection 137 (b)
of the constitution does not in my opinion apply to him. He has not been
elected to the office of president at any two previous elections under the
present or any other constitution whatsoever, but once,” he said.
Source: Tribune
No comments:
Post a Comment