SAN FRANCISCO, February 20, (THEWILL) – Judgement has been reserved in the suit challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to run in the presidential election now scheduled to hold on March 28.
The Appellate Court sitting in Abuja Thursday reserved its decision on the eligibility of President Jonathan in the election as the Presiding Judge, Datijo Yahaya, said the judgment date would be communicated to the parties after hearing arguments canvassed by all the parties.
Justice Yahaya is leading other members of the panel which included Akomolafe Wilson (Mrs), T.Y. Hassan, J. E. Ekannem and M. Mustapha.
Arguing the appeal, Chief Okon Obono Obla, the lawyer to Cyriacus Njoku, the appellant, urged the court to hold that Njoku had locus to file the case as he also urged the court not to follow the old interpretation of locus standi but to follow the modern trend laid down by the court of Appeal in the case of Gani Fawehinmi where Fawehinmi went to court to say that the payment of salaries to the Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala in US Dollars was wrong.
Maintaining that Gani lost the matter at the High Court but got judgment at the Court of Appeal where the court agreed that he had locus standi because he was a tax payer, Obono Obla also urged the court to hold that President Jonathan’s declaration and adoption as the presidential candidate of the PDP while the appeal was pending was wrong.
On its part, the PDP, represented by Mr Victor Yusufu Kwon, the party’s National Legal Adviser, urged the court to dismiss the appeal, saying President Jonathan did not act lawlessly as the president and PDP’s actions were supported by the extant judgment of Justice Oniyangi of the Abuja High Court.
“The party nominated Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate and in doing that it was in line with the extant judgment, so it is wrong for any body to suggest that the PDP acted lawlessly in adopting the President”, Kwon said.
It would be recalled that in 2013, Njoku instituted the case at the Abuja High Court High Court seeking a declaration that the tenure of office of President of Good luck Jonathan i.e. 1st Defendant, began on May 6th, 2010 when his first term began and his two terms should end on May 29, 2015 after taking his second oath on May 29th, 2011.
According to him, by virtue of Section 136 (1) (b) of the constitution no person (including the 1st Defendant) shall take the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Office prescribed to in the Seven Schedule to this Constitution.
He asked the court for an order of injunction restraining Jonathan from further contesting or attempting to vie for the office of the President of Nigeria after May 29, 2015 when his tenure ends.
He also asked for an order restraining the PDP (2nd Defendant) from further sponsoring or attempting to sponsor Jonathan as candidate for election to the office of the president in the 2015 presidential
Eeection after the expiration of his two terms on May 29, 2015.
But on March 13, 2013, the trial judge, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi (as he then was) delivered its judgment and held that the plaintiff had no locus to challenge Jonathan’s decision to contest the 2015 presidential election under the platform of the PDP.
Not satisfied, Njoku filed a notice of appeal on April 16,2013 asking the appellate court to set aside Oniyangi’s judgment and in its stead grant all the reliefs sought by him in his originating summons.
