A Federal High Court in Abuja has imposed a N1 million fine on the lawyer who filed the suit challenging former President Goodluck Jonathan’s eligibility to contest the 2027 presidential election, after finding that the plaintiff had failed to serve the suit on any of the respondents in the six months since it was filed in October 2025 and had repeatedly failed to appear for scheduled hearings.
Justice Peter Lifu, expressing visible frustration at the plaintiff’s conduct, said the case had been given repeated accommodations including adjournments at the plaintiff’s own request, only for neither the plaintiff nor his counsel to appear on the dates fixed, and for the fundamental requirement of serving the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation to remain unaddressed half a year after the suit was filed.
The court directed the plaintiff to serve all processes on INEC and the AGF within two hours of the ruling, ordered those respondents to file responses before 11 a.m. on May 18, and fixed May 18 at noon for definite hearing of the originating summons and all pending applications. The N1 million cost was awarded in favor of Jonathan as the first defendant.
The suit seeks to restrain Jonathan from presenting himself as a presidential candidate for 2027 and to stop INEC from accepting or processing his name, arguing he had exhausted his constitutional eligibility by completing the tenure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and then serving a full four-year term after the 2011 election.
