Abuja High Court on
Friday dismissed a suit that sought to
bar President Goodluck Jonathan
from contesting the 2015 presidential
election. It will be recalled that Chief Cyriachus
Njoko, a member of the PDP, filed the
suit in March 2012. Delivering the judgment, Justice
Mudashiru Oniyangi held that
Jonathan had not yet served two
terms as substantive president. “The first defendant (Jonathan)
neither contested the office of the
president before 2011 nor got
nomination of his party to contest
same election before 2011. “Jonathan, to my knowledge, in 2007
contested the general election as a
vice president and nothing more. “Section 135 (2) of the 1999
constitution spells out the tenure of
the President to be four years single
term, while Section137 (1b)
prescribes that the President can only
be administered with Oath of office and Oath of allegiance twice. “In the case of Jonathan, his mere
assumption of the office of the
President was necessitated by what
the National Assembly described as
doctrine of necessity because of the
demise of late President Umar Yar’Adua. “It is therefore the interpretation of
this court that Section 135 (2) can
only be applicable with the person
elected as president. “Jonathan’s emergence as President
on May 6, 2010 did not amount to his
being elected; and so, the action did
not give credence to the allegation of
first oath taking. “In the circumstance of the forgoing,
Jonathan is just serving his first
tenure, and therefore free to seek
nomination of his party or any other
political party if he so wishes to fulfill
his presidential ambition,’’ he said. Giving a number of consequential
orders, the judge, however, held that
Jonathan could be barred from
seeking the position of president
beyond 2015 if he failed to obtain
nomination of a political party. Oniyangi further ordered that the
second defendant (PDP) be barred
from fielding Jonathan as its
Presidential Candidate after 2015. The judge ordered that the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) must reject the
nomination of Jonathan as
presidential candidate of any political
party after 2015. On the preliminary objections, the
judge held that the plaintiff neither
established a cause of action nor had
`locus standi’ to institute the suit. Oniyangi said that the non
establishment of cause of action and
locus effectively denied the court the
jurisdiction to entertain the suit. “Being a card-carrying member of the
second defendant (PDP) and a tax
payer does not yet bestow locus on
the plaintiff. “The court views the action as being
hasty and premature as the second
defendant has not gotten the PDP
nomination to contest the 2015
election yet. “The Electoral Act mandates political
parties to carry out primaries to
nominate candidates for elective
offices. “The plaintiff will, however, be
bestowed with `locus’ if only he had
expressed interest to contest the
presidential election and dully
participated in the primaries. “The plaintiff’s interest is at the
embryo stage and can be best
described as a mere ambition. “The suit is hereby dismissed for
lacking in merit as it is premature.
The plaintiff is ordered to pay the sum
of N20, 000 as cost for damages to
the defendants. “Let me, however, say here that this
decision is not by any means a
declaration of President Goodluck
Jonathan as a sole candidate of the
PDP in the forthcoming 2015 general
elections,’’ he said. Speaking to newsmen after the
proceeding, Chief Ade Okeaya-Inneh
(SAN), counsel to Jonathan,
expressed delight in the decision of
the court. “This will lay to rest the issue of
whether the President can seek re-
election or not.’’ Mr Kwon Victor, counsel to the
plaintiff, however, said that the
decision gave room for appeal,
adding: “We are approaching the
Appellate Court for better
interpretation of Sections 135 and 137 of the 1999 Constitution.’’ INEC
did not enter appearance in the suit.
(NAN

Nonsense what do you expect them to judge?

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GEJ WILL WIN AGAIN HATERS IF U NO LIKE AM JUMP INSIDE LAGOON

GEJ is the president come 2015

Dpeacemaker101: GEJ is the president come 2015

did you know that the rest of life of Jonathan he we spend it in prison?income2015