- …Declares Him A Risk To Any Political Parties That Fields Him As Candidate
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana might have dropped a bombshell, Thursday, as he posited that former President Goodluck Jonathan would not be on the right side of the law and the constitution of Nigeria if he declares to run for President in 2023.
The legal luminary said by the virtue of section 137 (3) of the Nigerian constitution, Jonathan cannot contest the office of Nigeria’s president having spent five years in office as president already under two different terms.
Section 137 (3) of the constitution reads: “A person who was sworn in to complete the term for which another person was elected as President shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term.”
Jonathan who served as the Vice President under the administration of late former president Musa Yar’Adua, was sworn in as President on May 5, 2010 to complete the term of his principal who died at the age of 58 years after a protracted illness.
He would later contest in the 2011 presidential election and won in his name, thereby remaining in office for another four years, until 2015 when he lost to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
With constant calls for the former president to throw his hat into the ring in 2023, Falana has said Jonathan cannot contest for presidency of the country, arguing that the Bayelsa-born politician is likely to be “too much of a risk for…” any political parties who wants him as candidate.
Falana who spoke during an interview session with Channels TV, monitored by The New Diplomat argued that Jonathan, who was President between 2010 and 2015, would breach constitutional term limits of two terms of eight years if he runs for president again.
According to him, the constitution provides that an individual can only be sworn in twice, of which Jonathan has achieved in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
In his words: “The constitution provides that a person who was sworn in to complete the term of another person in office, is only entitled to contest once afterwards, in other words, you can only be sworn in twice.
“Some of my of colleagues have said that provision is not introspective, with profound respect, if you spend a year or two or three or almost four to complete the tenure of somebody who died in office or who resigned or was impeached, can you contest twice in a way that you spend nine, ten, eleven twelve years as a president or governor? The constitution says No! that you can only spend eight years maximum, two terms.
“You may spend less but not more. President Jonathan was sworn in as president on the 5th of May, 2010 before he contested in 2011 and won the election, so he has done five years already. He is therefore disqualified from contesting another election for a 4-year term, that means they will spend nine years in office.
“When a re-run election has taken place and you win, the constitution is saying that the time spent in office before the date of the election was annulled shall be taken into account. So you cannot say, oh, I spent three years in office, it was annulled therefore, I want to start afresh.
“In like manner if you spend one, two or three years to complete the time or somebody else, the Constitution is now saying, you can only do four years thereafter, you can only contest for a term thereafter and not two terms. Because that will mean you are spending more than eight years, which is the maximum recognised by the Constitution. That is the law. So, there are issues there, even if you agree that the section 137(3) cannot be retrospective, the Supreme Court has also interpreted other provisions of the Constitution to the effect that nobody can spend more than two times in office, and that will mean eight years maximum.”
Meanwhile, Jonathan’s campaign posters have continued to flood major cities in the country, including Abuja and Kano. The former President was reported to be on the verge of joining APC after he was credited with an interest in the Office of the President, should President Muhammadu Buhari endorse him.
What has further fuelled his defection rumours in the past months is the fact that he has not been active in the affairs of the opposition’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in recent times, The New Diplomat understands. For instance, in the past few years, he only attended the party’s non-elective convention in 2017 and the Presidential convention in 2018 in Port Harcourt and has not been involved in the activities of the PDP lately, despite the ongoing mouthwatering conversation in the party on where the power pendulum should swing to ahead 2023 elections.
