Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s electoral litigation process and establish a “Constitutional Court” to streamline election-related issues.
Jonathan made the call in Abuja on Wednesday during the 70th birthday and book launch of Senator Gbenga Daniel (APC-Ogun East).
The former president argued that a specialised court would reduce the burden on the nation’s political system by handling election matters in a single phase.
He noted that the current three-tier litigation process for governorship elections—moving from the tribunal to the Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court—has become ineffective.
Reflecting on the evolution of Nigeria’s electoral laws, Jonathan recalled a 2011 case where a gubernatorial candidate lost his seat due to a technicality regarding the color 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.
The former president explained that while the National Assembly later amended the law to allow governorship cases to reach the Supreme Court to prevent such injustices, they failed to take care of the length of litigation.
Jonathan urged Nigeria to look towards the judicial models of Francophone African countries which utilise specialised Constitutional Courts for political matters.
“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 challenged the judiciary to be firm in its decision-making to sanitise the nation’s politics.
“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.
Extolling the virtues of the celebrant, Jonathan described Daniel as a “constructive leader” who brought an engineering mindset into the “murky waters of politics.”
He recalled how Daniel was spontaneously selected as the South-West Zonal Coordinator for his 2015 presidential campaign because of his ability to cut across political divides and his inherent credibility.
“I can attest to the fact that he is a man that really thinks like an engineer—very constructive and dedicated,” Jonathan added.
He also commended Daniel for documenting his life in four books, noting that personal accounts are essential to 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 President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; prominent traditional rulers, and political stalwarts.
