Former President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit seeking to stop him from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
Jonathan, through his counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, challenged the suit on Friday when the matter came up before Justice Peter Lifu.
The suit was filed by a lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, who is asking the court to restrain the former President from presenting himself to any political party as a presidential aspirant ahead of the 2027 poll.
Newsmen reports that at the resumed sitting, Uche informed the court that Jonathan had filed a letter of conditional appearance, a notice of preliminary objection, a counter-affidavit and a written address.
He said the processes were filed on May 5, asking the court to dismiss the case.
According to him, Jonathan’s legal team became aware of the suit through media reports and had to respond urgently because of the importance of the matter.
Uche said the case touched on the eligibility of the former President to contest in the next presidential election.
The senior lawyer also faulted the filing of the suit, saying the issue had previously been determined by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
He said it was unfortunate that the action was instituted by a lawyer who should have known that the matter had already been decided by the courts.
Earlier, counsel to the plaintiff, Ndubuisi Ukpai, told the court that the matter was listed for mention.
He, however, said he had just been served with Jonathan’s processes and would need time to respond.
Following the development, Justice Lifu adjourned the matter until May 11 at 2 pm for the hearing of Jonathan’s preliminary objection and the substantive suit.
The judge also ordered that hearing notices be issued and served on the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation, who are the second and third defendants in the matter.
Jideobi had filed the suit asking the court to bar Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election on constitutional grounds.
He prayed the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the former President from presenting himself to any political party in Nigeria for the purpose of contesting the election.
The plaintiff also asked the court to restrain INEC from accepting Jonathan’s name from any political party or publishing the same as a duly nominated candidate for the presidential poll.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, listed Jonathan as the first defendant.
INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation were joined as second and third defendants, respectively.
The case was dated and filed on October 6, 2025.
NaijaNews / Tunmise Adesanmi
