…Says Ex-President 100% Qualified to Run…Your Views Screwed, Unsolicited
By Franklin Adole
The camp of former President Goodluck Jonathan has fired back at suggestions from President Bola Tinubu’s allies that Jonathan is ineligible to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Leading the counterattack, Robert Azibaola, lawyer, pro-democracy activist, and cousin to the former president, declared on Monday that Jonathan is “100% constitutionally and legally qualified” to contest, should he choose to do so.
His rebuttal follows remarks by Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, SAN, who warned the opposition against fielding Jonathan, claiming his candidacy would collapse in court. Keyamo’s comments were echoed by human rights lawyer Professor Chidi Odinkalu, who also argued Jonathan could not return to Aso Rock.
Azibaola dismissed both interventions as unsolicited legal posturing. “Goodluck Jonathan has numerous, more celebrated, more experienced SANs at his disposal who give him sound, unblemished, professional legal advice only,” he wrote on Facebook. “GEJ is 100% constitutionally and legally qualified to contest if he chooses to. If he chooses not to yield to his overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.”
Jonathan, who led Nigeria between 2010 and 2015, remains a figure of unity within a fragmented opposition that is weighing possible alliances between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party, and other groups. Supporters argue that his national appeal and experience position him as the only candidate capable of mounting a serious challenge to Tinubu and the APC in 2027.
Azibaola, in his post, reminded both Keyamo and Odinkalu of their shared roots as 1990s democracy activists but insisted they were wrong on the law. “We are three lawyers. We all were pro-democracy activists in the 90s, and I was a better activist than both of you combined,” he wrote. “Your screwed, unsolicited legal view is not of any concern in his bucket list, and it will never be. Don’t waste your precious time further dwelling on this.”
He went further to dare them to a legal debate: “Should you schedule a meeting with me, I can properly educate you on the subsisting court judgments on this, one of which your party, APC, was a party.”
Deploying satire, Azibaola warned the ruling party not to overheat the polity with distractions: “I beg una, make we no dey put too much water inside belle for another person disco dance, make long line no form for latrine door.”
While Jonathan has yet to personally declare his intentions for 2027, his camp’s sharp response signals that his political future remains very much alive — and that the ruling APC is already jittery about the prospect of his return.