JUSTICE Mudashiru Oniyangi of a Federal High Court in Nigeria, on March 1, 2013, in a well publicised judgement, held that the incumbent President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan can contest for the office of President in the 2015 presidential election.
The learned Judge held that in the eyes of the law, President Jonathan’s tenure commenced on May 29, 2011, saying he only assumed the presidential seat in 2010 following the demise of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who, he said, only contested and won the 2007 presidential election. The learned Judge borrowed the ‘doctrine of necessity’ from the Nigeria National Assembly as the justification for the assumption of the office of the President of Nigeria by President Jonathan on May 6, 2010. Consequently, the Judge ruled that the President was on his first tenure of four years.
Justice Mudashiru referred to the earlier tenure in which President Jonathan exercised presidential
power as the tenure of the late President Yar’Adua. The questions arising from this are as follows:
Was the earlier tenure personal to the late President Yar’Adua? Would Yar’Adua have been qualified to contest the 2007 presidential election without the inclusion of President Jonathan as his Vice President? In other words, can any elected President in Nigeria qualify to contest presidential election without the inclusion of a Vice Presidential candidate? Was the ticket of the late President Yar’Adua not joint with present President as the Vice Presidential candidate? If the earlier four-year tenure of the late President Yar’Adua was personal to him, why did Nigerians not give the unexpired one and half years of the tenure of the late President to his wife or any of his children?
Borrowing the ‘doctrine of necessity’ from the legislature as a basis for the Judge arriving at his decision equally raises a question whether the assumption of the office of the President by President Jonathan was a gift from the legislative ‘doctrine of necessity’ or it was a gift from the National Assembly to President Jonathan to assume presidential office? The tenure of the office of the President of Nigeria is provided for in Sections 135 (1) (a) (b) (c) (d), 135 (2) (a) (b), and 135 (3).
Section 135, (2) (b), states: “The President shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date, when in any other case, the person last elected to that office under this Constitution took the oath of allegiance and oath of office”.
The above provision is applicable to the case of the late President Yar’Adua and the incumbent President Jonathan. The Constitution intends that President Jonathan should complete the tenure of the late President Yar’Adua. There was no provision made to add more years for President Jonathan to make his separate four years. Neither the Constitution nor the Judge made reference to the Constitution providing for President Jonathan’s one and half years in office as the President of Nigeria before his election in 2011. The reliance on the ‘doctrine of necessity’ or the explanation that it was to complete the tenure of the late President Yar’Adua cannot hold as it did not provide any Constitutional answer for President Jonathan’s one and half years in office.
What is clear by the Constitutional provision is that Jonathan assumed the office of the President of Nigeria at the demise of the late President Yar’Adua because he was the Vice President of Nigeria who won as Vice President by the joint Presidential ticket between him and the late President Yar’Adua. Neither the benevolence of the National Assembly nor the attempt to moralise the ‘doctrine of necessity’ gave President Jonathan the authority to assume the office of the President of Nigeria at the demise of the late President Yar’Adua.
Section 135 (3) makes a provision under which the tenure of an elected President can be extended. The section states as follows: “If the federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four years. No such extension shall exceed a period of six months at any one time”.
The provision of Section 136 (1) (2) shows the intention of the law makers as to the tenure of an elected President. The said Section 136 (1) states that: “If a person elected as President dies before taking and subscribing to the oath of allegiance and the oath of office, or is for any reason whatsoever unable to be sworn in, the person elected with him as Vice President shall be sworn in as President, and he shall nominate a new Vice President who shall be appointed by the new President with the approval by a simple majority of the National Assembly at a joint sitting”.
Mr. ISAIAH OSIFO, a student of philosophy, wrote from Benin City, Edo State. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Can u imagine? A judge passing a judgment without reference to the legal document ie the constitution! This student's treatise has floored the hon judges judgment.
ReplyDeleteThe matter is not dat of re contesting, the question is Jonathan competent? to me, he is clueless.
ReplyDeleteThat makes the two of us. It is only fools that will vote for him again. Anybody is better than that man.
DeleteJonathan is a dissappointment 2 evry nigerian.He has done notin 2 better d life & properties of citizens of dis country rather he has only brought more tears,pains,unemployment,insecurity & most of all blood shed of innocent life.Jonathan shuld resign!
ReplyDeletelet him contest so that PDP can die once and for all. If they choose another fool from the north under PDP, he may likely win with his support and this mess will still continue.
ReplyDeleteYou and the writer can go to hell! No amount of your hatred will stop Jonathan from exercising his right. And mind you, the ruling will not stop only at Jonathan's tenure but will be there even when your own father or uncle gets the opportunity! Stop your quest for trouble.
ReplyDelete