By Akpo Mudiaga Odje

The issue of the second term bid of Mr. President has generated a lot of furore in the polity and perhaps has even eclipsed the current security challenges of our dear nation.

This discourse examines the eligibility or otherwise of Mr. President to Re-Contest in 2015 in juxtaposition with the germane provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Case Law.

*Qualifications to Contest for Office of President.

Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that:

“A person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if –

1. he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;
2. he has attained the age of forty years;
3. he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and
4. he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.” 

President Goodluck Jonathan

*Disqualification to Contest for Office of President Section 137 provides so far as material for our purpose that:

“A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if

1. he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections”. The above provisions i.e. Sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution so far as material for our purpose, have lucidly set out the qualifications and disqualifications relating to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Needless to add that these provisions are clear as well as unambiguous and as such ought to be given their literal and ordinary meaning.

The first question that arises here, is whether President Goodluck Jonathan in the light of Section 131 above, qualified to occupy the office and/or contest for the office of the President of Nigeria in 2010 and/or 2011?

It is not in dispute that he qualified ex debito justitiae to occupy that office in 2010 and as he did in 2011 after winning the Presidential elections.

The second and crucial question that has now apparently brought out the brouhaha is, whether in view of Section 137(1)(b) above (i.e. regarding having been elected twice to that office), Mr. President is entitled to Re-Contest for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015? This is the hub of the matter.

Before giving an emphatic answer, to the second question, some legal and constitutional issues need to be pontificated upon to enable one take a more informed position as the case warrants.

*Has President Jonathan Contested Twice for the Office of President?

In retrospect, Mr. President contested for the office of Vice President, under Alhaji Umaru Musa Ya’Adua of blessed memory and both were elected as President and Vice-President respectively in 2007. That was the First Office at the federal level President Jonathan contested for; i.e. office of Vice President.

However, in May 2010, our dear President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua passed away and by virtue of Section 146 of the Constitution, Dr. Jonathan was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Indeed, the apex Court has declared in PDP V INEC (1999) II NWLR (pt626) 200 that a Governor and his Deputy both stand for elections as of right, though to different offices.  

Thus, Wali JSC at page 249 paras D – F noted that:

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Boni Haruna were simultaneously elected as Governor and Deputy Governor of Adamawa State by the electorate of that State. Each must have his own supporters that had voted for him. Each has therefore acquired a right by being elected”.

Similarly in A.G. Federation V Atiku (2007) 16 NWLR (Pt1041) 1 at page 156 paras E-H Mohammed JSC observed that:

“I share the same views with the Court below that the bond of companionship which compelled them particularly the Vice Presidential candidate to remain together during elections loosens, soon thereafter, and they would swim to certain extent separately.”

These judgments to my mind, duly affirm the independent electoral standing of both a Governor and Deputy Governor on the one hand and the President and Vice President on the other hand, during and after elections.

To be continued