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PDP lauds court judgment upholding GEJ’s eligibility to contest 2027 election
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has applauded a federal high court judgment in Abuja which dismissed a suit filed against the eligibility of former Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Justice Peter Lifu on Tuesday, struck out a suit filed by Johnmary Jideobi, a legal practitioner, seeking to stop Jonathan from participating in the 2027 presidential election, while fining the plaintiff N20 million in favour of the former president.
The judge also awarded N1 million fine against the plaintiff, in favour of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
In a statement issued on its verified X handle (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday and signed by the national publicity secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, the PDP said the judgment was “in alignment with the law and common sense.”
“The Peoples Democratic Party has welcomed the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, which held that President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest for the Presidency, despite having previously sworn to the oath of office of the President twice.
“This judgment is clearly in alignment with the law and common sense, as laws cannot have a retroactive or retrospective effect,” the statement read.
The statement further applauded the punitive cost against the plaintiff, calling it a deterrence for those seeking to derail democratic tenets.
“The suit, which, for all intents and purposes, was vexatious and a gross abuse of court processes, was a very unnecessary distraction that ought not to have been instituted in the first instance.
“The punitive cost against the plaintiff is also very much welcomed, to serve as a deterrent to intending busybodies and irritants, who make themselves available for use by those seeking to derail democracy,” it said.
Ememobong further stated that the development in addition to the screening waiver to the former president by the party, “has made the pathway for his presidential rescue mission totally unfettered, especially as the primaries of the party to select all its candidates will hold on May 28, 2026.”
