Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has been given the go-ahead to run for the presidential seat in the 2023 general election.
On Friday, a Federal High Court in Yenagoa ruled that Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Justice Isa Hamma Dashen stated that Jonathan’s right to vie for the presidential office again, cannot be stopped by any retroactive law.
In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution which bars Vice-Presidents who succeed their principals from serving more than one full term.
However, Goodluck Jonathan, served as Vice-President to President Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, but sworn in as president in 2010 after the demise of his principal, has been exempted from the rule.
Jonathan contested in the 2011 general election and won, before losing the 2015 election to President Buhari.
As the 64-year-old former president has only completed one full term of his tenure as president, he is eligible to run for another term, as the law ought not to take a retroactive effect unless it was expressly stated.
