The push by loyalists of former President Goodluck Jonathan to draft him into the 2027 presidential race has run into what appears to be an immovable legal barricade, with renowned political analyst Dr. Umar Ardo declaring that the constitution has shut the door—firmly—on any such ambition.
In a hard-hitting piece published in Vanguard Newspaper, Dr. Ardo dissected Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which reads: “A person who was sworn in as president to complete the term for which another person was elected as president shall not be elected to that office for more than a single term.”
For Jonathan, the clause is a direct strike. Sworn in as president in 2010 after the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he went on to win a full term in 2011. By Dr. Ardo’s calculation, and in light of the Supreme Court’s landmark Marwa v Nyako ruling in 2012, Jonathan has already hit the eight-year limit—no constitutional wriggle room left.
The argument is not new, but Dr. Ardo’s intervention reopens a politically sensitive wound. In 2013, a Federal Capital Territory High Court ruling by Justice Oniyangi controversially held that Jonathan could contest again, but that interpretation never sat well with constitutional purists and clashed with the Supreme Court’s established position.
Dr. Ardo, who famously challenged Jonathan’s eligibility before the 2015 election, said the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his case at the time only gave Jonathan a temporary political lifeline—one that ended when Muhammadu Buhari defeated him at the polls.
He now insists the 2018 amendment to Section 137(3) seals the matter beyond doubt, making Jonathan’s return bid legally impossible. But with his supporters framing him as the man capable of “rescuing” Nigeria from its current turbulence, the stage is set for a bruising political showdown where passion will collide head-on with constitutional reality.