Azibaola Robert, who is a close relative of Goodluck Jonathan, has stated that the former president is constitutionally and legally qualified to contest the 2027 Nigerian general elections.
This statement comes amid growing calls from stakeholders who view Jonathan as the only opposition figure capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upcoming election cycle.
Jonathan was President of Nigeria from May 5, 2010, to May 29, 2015. He first assumed office as acting president on February 9, 2010, following the illness and death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The National Assembly later invoked the “doctrine of necessity” to transfer power to him, due to Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence without a formal transmission of power.
He then ran for and won the 2011 presidential election under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), securing 58.89% of the vote against Muhammadu Buhari and others.
His presidency lasted until May 29, 2015, when he handed over power to Buhari after losing the 2015 election.
With Tinubu now in office, Nigeria’s opposition remains divided between the PDP and the Labour Party, with uncertainties surrounding the political platforms of key figures like Peter Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Stakeholders argue that Jonathan’s national appeal and experience make him the strongest candidate to unify the opposition and challenge the APC.
However, Jonathan’s potential candidacy seems to be unsettling the ruling party.
Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Minister of Aviation, urged the PDP not to nominate Jonathan, while Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a prominent human rights lawyer, suggested that the former president is constitutionally ineligible to run.
In his reaction, Robert Azibaola, who is a cousin of the former president, maintained that Jonathan is constitutionally qualified to contest the next elections if he chooses to.
He emphasised that if GEJ chooses not to yield to the overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.
He reminded both Keyamo and Odinkalu that he is also a lawyer who was also a prodemocracy activist in the 1990s, adding that, although his comment does not confirm Jonathan’s candidacy.
Azibaola wrote on his Facebook page:
“Dear Festus Keyamo, SAN, Chidi Odinkalu(Prof.), I greet both of you. For the record, we are three lawyers.
“We all were pro-democracy activists in the 90s, and I was a better activist than both of you combined.
“RULE NO. 1: Do not offer legal advice where none is solicited. Goodluck Jonathan has numerous, more celebrated, more experienced SANs at his disposal who give him sound, unblemished, professional legal advice only.
“GEJ is 100% constitutionally and legally qualified to contest if he chooses to. If he chooses not to yield to his overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.
“Your screwed, unsolicited legal view is not of any concern in his bucket list, and it will never be. Don’t waste your precious times further dwelling on this.
“Or should you schedule a meeting with me so you can get properly educated on the subsisting court judgements on this, one of which your party, APC, was a party?
“I beg una, make we no dey put too much water inside belle for another person disco dance, make long line no form for latrine door.
“#This is not a confirmation that GEJ is running, though.”
