Former President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday over a lawsuit seeking to disqualify him from the 2027 presidential race.
The suit, filed by lawyer Johnmary Jideobi and docketed FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, contends that Jonathan is constitutionally ineligible because he has already served two tenures as president.
The Nigerian Constitution limits a president to two terms, Jideobi argues.
Jonathan is the first defendant in the case. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation are named as second and third defendants.
Justice Peter Lifu ordered on April 28 that hearing notices be served after defendants failed to file responses within the allotted time.
The plaintiff seeks an order preventing Jonathan from presenting himself as a candidate to any political party and stopping INEC from accepting or publishing his name for the 2027 election.
An affidavit supporting the suit, sworn by Emmanuel Agida, recalls that Jonathan assumed office on May 6, 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 5, 2010, and subsequently won a full four‑year term in the 2011 election.
Agida says those facts mean Jonathan has exhausted the two‑term constitutional limit.
Sources say Jonathan plans not only to attend the court hearing on Friday but also to formally declare his 2027 presidential bid and reveal the party platform he will use.
Jonathan, who served as president from 2010 to 2015 and was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in 2011, lost his 2015 re‑election bid to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
