Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, lawyer and public commentator, has warned that former President Goodluck Jonathan may face serious legal barriers if he decides to contest the 2027 election, as reported by Vanguard on Sunday, 31 August, 2025.
Odinkalu explained that Jonathan’s ambition would not be decided by voters alone but also by judges who may interpret the law against him.
He recalled that Jonathan first entered office in 2010 after the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Jonathan then won a full term in 2011 before losing to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
According to Odinkalu, this history creates a problem under Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution.
The constitution was amended in 2017, the new section states that any person who completes the tenure of another president can only be elected once afterward.
Such a move, he argued, would weaken the opposition and remove Jonathan from the ballot close to the election date.
Odinkalu advised Jonathan to be careful with those urging him to contest.
He said the judicial system today is different from what it was when Jonathan was in office.
“A person who was sworn-in as President to complete the term for which another person was elected as President shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term. This will put GEJ’s eligibility directly in issue. The question will be simple: having inherited the presidency from President Yar’Adua and served a full elected term from 2011 to 2015, is he still eligible to run again in 2027?” he said.
