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ABUJA – In a seismic legal blow that has fundamentally reshaped the 2027 presidential race, a Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that former President Goodluck Jonathan is fully eligible to contest for the nation’s highest office again, despite having twice taken the presidential oath.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) immediately hailed the judgment late Tuesday, describing it as a victory for “law and common sense” that obliterates any remaining constitutional obstacles to Jonathan’s speculated return to Aso Rock.

The ruling, which threw out a vexatious suit aimed at disqualifying the former leader, has effectively green-lit a political bombshell: Jonathan’s “presidential rescue mission” is now on a collision course with the Tinubu administration.

“A GROSS ABUSE OF COURT PROCESSES”

In a fiery statement signed by National Publicity Secretary Comrade Ini Ememobong, the PDP’s Interim National Working Committee tore into the plaintiff who brought the suit, labeling the legal challenge as a “vexatious and gross abuse of court processes” and “a very unnecessary distraction.”

The court agreed. In a stinging rebuke, the judiciary slapped punitive costs on the litigant, a move the PDP says is “very much welcomed” to deter “busy bodies and irritants” who rent themselves out to anti-democratic forces.

“This judgment is clearly in alignment with the law and common sense,” Ememobong declared. “Laws cannot have a retroactive or retrospective effect.”

The legal argument hinged on whether Jonathan’s previous oaths, as President (2010–2015) and earlier as Acting President, triggered a two-term limit. The court decisively ruled no, keeping the door wide open.

THE MAY 28TH COUNTDOWN BEGINS

With the legal hurdle crushed, the PDP signaled that the internal machinery is already whirring.

The party confirmed that it has already granted Jonathan a “screening waiver,” and with the court’s endorsement now in hand, his path to the ticket is “totally unfettered.”

The critical date is May 28, 2026, when the PDP will hold its primaries to select all candidates.

Political analysts note that this timeline gives the Jonathan camp less than one year to consolidate a nationwide structure capable of unseating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). But with the judiciary now aligned and the party establishment united, the former President is no longer a rumored candidate—he is a certified threat.

A RESCUE OR A RETURN?

The PDP frames Jonathan’s potential comeback as a “rescue mission”, a direct appeal to Nigerians weary of economic hardship and insecurity. Critics, however, see a desperate party clinging to a nostalgia-driven figure from the pre-Buhari era.

But for now, the numbers speak: The court has spoken. The waiver is granted. The primary is set.

And Goodluck Jonathan—who quietly handed over power in 2015 after conceding defeat—now has a clear, legal, and party-sanctioned runway to demand it

Full text of PDP statement

PDP WELCOMES JUDGMENT ON JONATHAN’S ELIGIBILITY FOR 2027 PRESIDENCY.

The Peoples Democratic Party @OfficialPDPNig has welcomed the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, which held that President Goodluck Jonathan @GEJonathan 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 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.

This development, coupled with the screening waiver that our party had granted President Goodluck Jonathan, 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.

Signed:

Comrade Ini Ememobong, mnipr
National Publicity Secretary
Interim National Working Committee
Peoples Democratic Party
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