Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Okutepa, has argued that former President Goodluck Jonathan cannot legally contest the 2027 presidential election, insisting that doing so would be unconstitutional.
Speaking on Arise Television’s news programme on Tuesday, Okutepa maintained that Jonathan has already exhausted his constitutional limit by serving six years in office between 2010 and 2015.
According to him, if Jonathan were to contest and win in 2027, serving another four years, it would bring his total years in office to 10, which contravenes the constitutional ceiling of eight years.
Okutepa anchored his argument on the Supreme Court ruling in Marwa vs Nyako, which he said clearly established that no individual can occupy the office of governor or president for more than two terms of four years each under the 1999 Constitution.
He recalled that Jonathan first assumed office in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, serving out the remaining two years of that tenure. He later won the 2011 election and governed for another four years.
The senior lawyer further cited the Fourth Alteration Act of 2018, which states that anyone sworn in to complete the tenure of another president can only be elected for one additional term.
“As far back as 2013, I wrote an article questioning Jonathan’s eligibility to seek re-election in 2015, and I still stand by that position,” Okutepa said.
He stressed that Jonathan’s two years as Yar’Adua’s successor, plus his subsequent four-year term, already amount to six years under the 1999 Constitution. Another term in 2027, he argued, would extend Jonathan’s stay in office to 10 years, in clear violation of constitutional provisions.
“The time fixed by the constitution for tenure of office is like the rock of Gibraltar — it cannot be shifted or elongated,” he said.
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