Jonathan: Presidency, North differ on 2015 court verdic

The presidency has described the verdict of a Federal Capital Territory High Court which on Friday declared that President Goodluck Jonathan could contest the 2015 presidential election as a “welcome development.” Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi on Friday, made the declaration in his judgment in a suit which sought to stop Jonathan from contesting the election in 2015.

Reacting on behalf of the Presidency, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, stated that it was the responsibility of the judiciary to interpret the law.

“If we agree to practise democracy, then we must agree with and respect the verdicts of the judiciary when it interpretes the law.

“The court is right in saying that the President can contest the 2015 presidential election if he wishes to contest. The verdict is a welcome development,” he said.

However, the Arewa Consultative Forum, the foremost northern socio- political group, said the judgment was the beginning of a judicial process.

The ACF Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, said, “The judgment is just the beginning of the court processes that is yet to be exhausted by the litigants. So, why not wait for the final verdict?

“You will recall the six governors who had re-runs dragged INEC to court on the grounds that since the tribunals had nullified their elections and ordered for re-runs, the periods served before the re-runs should also be discounted.

“Left to the lower and Appeal courts, the periods before re-runs should not be counted and so the governors could serve more than the maximum of eight years that is allowed by the constitution.

“But the Supreme Court said no to that. So one cannot say anything now until the court processes on the matter are over.”

Sani further said the alleged single-term pact between Jonathan and the PDP governors was a moral issue.

“I do not think this matter of (single term) agreement, whether signed or not, is a matter of constitution but about its effects on national ideals and moral values.

“Nigerians would want leaders whom they can trust to deliver on their promises, be they campaign promises or on government policies and programmes.

“In any case, Nigerian voters have the final say on who becomes the president, especially if they make judicious use of their democratic rights during elections,” he said.

Also reacting, the Convener of Concerned Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents said, his group expected that the matter would be taken to the Appeal Court.

Mohammed said the judgment did not come to his group as a surprise even though he expected an appeal to be filed.

He said, his group had initially asked to be joined in the suit by Cyriacus Njoku, who filed the original suit, but had a rethink when it suspected that he might be acting out a script.

Mohammed said, “Nothing coming out of the Nigerian judiciary surprises me. There have been outrageous judgments coming from the courts. This one does not surprise me.

“This has proved to me we still have a long way to go.

“This judgment is adding more and more curiosity to the entire tenure elongation effort by President Jonathan and the role of the Nigerian judiciary in it. It is like the more you look, the less you see.”

Justice Oniyangi struck out the suit filed by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Cyriacus Njoku, who asked the court to stop Jonathan from contesting the presidential election in 2015 on the grounds that he was already in his second term in office.

In dismissing the suit, the judge said Jonathan was free to stand for election in 2015 because he was still serving his first term in office as President.