Former President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged a lawsuit seeking to stop him from contesting the 2027 presidential election, insisting that no constitutional provision bars him from seeking the office again.

The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja by lawyer Johnmary Jideobi, argued that Jonathan had already exhausted the constitutional limit of two presidential terms after completing the tenure of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later serving a full elected term from 2011 to 2015.

The plaintiff asked the court to restrain Jonathan from presenting himself as a candidate for the 2027 election and also sought an order preventing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting or publishing his name as a presidential candidate.

In response, Jonathan, through his lawyer, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), filed a preliminary objection and counter-affidavit, arguing that he had only been elected president once and merely completed Yar’Adua’s tenure after his death in 2010.

Jonathan further argued that Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution, introduced through a constitutional amendment in 2018, cannot apply retroactively to his case since his tenure ended in 2015 before the amendment came into effect.

Justice Peter Lifu adjourned the matter to May 11 for hearing of the objections and substantive suit.