Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s electoral litigation process and establish a Constitutional Court to handle election-related matters more efficiently.
He made the call in Abuja on Wednesday during the 70th birthday and book launch of Gbenga Daniel, representing Ogun East Senatorial District under the All Progressives Congress.
Jonathan argued that a specialised court would streamline electoral disputes and reduce the burden on the country’s political system by ensuring such cases are handled in a single phase. He noted that the current three-tier litigation process for governorship elections, which moves from election tribunals to the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court of Nigeria, has become ineffective.
Reflecting on the evolution of Nigeria’s electoral laws, Jonathan recalled a 2011 case in which a gubernatorial candidate lost his seat due to a technicality involving the colour of ink used by voters.
“I remember a particular case where someone lost an election as a governor because the law then stipulated the use of red ink to tick voters’ names.
“In an entire senatorial district, they were not provided with red pens and used available black or green pens.
“As a result, those votes were cancelled. The Appeal Court upheld this, even though the lower tribunal felt that a tick is a tick,” he said.
He explained that although the National Assembly later amended the law to allow governorship election cases to reach the Supreme Court to prevent such injustices, the issue of prolonged litigation timelines remains unresolved.
Jonathan urged Nigeria to consider the judicial models of Francophone African countries, where specialised constitutional courts handle political and electoral disputes.
“If the Supreme Court would continue to be the terminal court for governor’s elections, then they don’t need to go through the lower tribunal so that it would just be one step.
“I believe the ideal thing to do, which I was considering when I was in office, was to make sure that it’s only one tribunal that listens to any litigation relating to politics.
“This is done, especially in the Francophone countries in Africa. They have constitutional courts, anything about elections, only the constitutional courts that take decisions,’’ he said.
The former president also called on the judiciary to be firm in its decisions to strengthen Nigeria’s political system.
“Politics is like soccer and the judges are the referees. If the referee looks the other way, players will break legs or score with their hands,” Jonathan added.
Commending the celebrant, Jonathan described Senator Daniel as a “constructive leader” who brought an engineering mindset into governance.
He recalled that Daniel was spontaneously chosen as the South-West Zonal Coordinator for his 2015 presidential campaign due to his ability to bridge political divides and his credibility.
“I can attest to the fact that he is a man that really thinks like an engineer—very constructive and dedicated,” Jonathan added.
Jonathan also praised Daniel for documenting his life experiences in four books, stressing the importance of personal accounts in correcting public misconceptions.
“I always appreciate people who put on paper their experiences and what happens to them. I pray and hope I will also do one day so that younger people will read about Goodluck Jonathan.
“There are a lot of stories about me. Maybe 50 per cent of them, whenever I read, they are not correct. But people say whatever they want to say.
“So it’s only when the author himself, when the actor documents it, then people say, oh, this is what happened,’’ Jonathan said.
The event was attended by Bola Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, traditional rulers, and other political stakeholders.
