President Goodluck
Jonathan has told a Federal High Court that contrary to the provisions of the
1999 Constitution, an incumbent president’s tenure in office can extend beyond
four or eight years.
The president, who
last Sunday said it was too early to discuss 2015 presidential election,
disclosed this in response to a suit filed by a Port Harcourt-based lawyer and
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, Henry Amadi, who wants the court to
declare that Mr Jonathan was no longer qualified to contest in 2015.
The plaintiff
argued that allowing Mr Jonathan to contest in 2015 would amount to extending
his tenure beyond the maximum period of two terms of four years envisaged by
the 1999 Constitution.
similar suit was filed by another member of
the PDP, Cyriacus Njoku, who asked an Abuja High Court to stop Mr Jonathan from
contesting the presidential election in 2015 on the grounds that he was already
in his second term in office.
Judgment was yet
to be entered in the said suit by the presiding Judge, Justice Mudashiru
Oniyangi, long after he had earlier fixed November 13, 2012 date before
adjourning the case sine dine (indefinitely) following his trip abroad.
In the present
suit, the plaintiff joined Mr Jonathan and the Independent National electoral
Commission (INEC) as co-defendants.
He specifically
asked the court to stop Mr Jonathan from putting himself forward or
participating as candidate for election to the office of the president at the
end of his current term of office in 2015.
Mr Amadi also
asked the court to direct INEC not to accept Mr Jonathan’s nomination as
candidate of the PDP in 2015, saying by so doing, the president would hoist
illegality in the polity since the oath of allegiance and office he would take
if he won would violate the two oaths of allegiance and office stipulated by
the 1999 Constitution.
But in the
counter-affidavit filed on his behalf by Ade Okeaya-Inneh, President Jonathan
asked the court to decline jurisdiction to entertain the case on the grounds
that the plaintiff was an ordinary individual who was not qualified to request
court to stop him from contesting 2015 presidential election.
“Under public law,
an ordinary or a citizen or a taxpayer without more will generally not have
locus standi as a plaintiff. This is because such litigations concern public
rights and duties which belong to and are owed all members of the public
including the plaintiff,” the president’s lawyer said.
The president
contended that the plaintiff failed to disclose reasonable cause of action and
that his claim before the court was hypothetical and academic. Mr Jonathan
averred that he took the first oath of office on May 6, 2010 following the
death of former president Umaru Musa Yar’adua.
“The question that
arises for determination is whether, having regard to the facts of this case,
he is in his first or second term. In other words, given that the constitution
prescribes a maximum of two-term of four years each totalling a maximum of eight
years as president, is he eligible to run for re-election in 2015?
“If yes, that
would mean that, if he wins, he would be in office for a period of more than
eight years.
“On the other
hand, if the answer is no, that would mean that he, for no fault of his, would
be constrained to serve for a period of less than eight years. “Given that
between May 6, 2010 and May 28, 2011 he held office for the unexpired term of
office of Yar’adua following the death of the later. Does the constitution
contemplate that the period of about one year and three weeks would constitute
his first term, a period of less than half of the constitutionally prescribed
period of four years.’’
Mr Okeaya-Inneh
further said: “in resolving this issue, the court is invited to make a determination
whether the period of May 6, 2010 to May 28, 2011 wherein Jonathan occupied the
office of the president can, in law, be regarded as one term of office and
relevance of the oath of office Jonathan took on May 6, 2010 in computing the
tenure of office of Jonathan in line with Sections 135 (1) and (2), 137 (1)(b),
140 (1) and (2) and 146(1) of the 1999 Constitution.”
He argued that it
was better with the political situation of Nigeria for Jonathan to spend nine
years in office than to spend less than eight years. “This approach is also
consistent with the time honoured canon of interpretation to the effect that if
confronted with two interpretations, one of which would abridge a person’s
right and another which would maintain or enhance a person’s rights, the former
constitution yields to the later.’’
Meanwhile, Justice
Adamu Bello adjourned to 23 January 2013, for parties in the matter to adopt
their processes and argument. He also granted the applications made by lawyers
to Mr Jonathan and INEC to extend time within which to file their
counter-affidavit and preliminary objections to the suit filed by lawyer to the
plaintiff.
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