Amid the growing controversy surrounding the eligibility of former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2027 presidential election, his close relative and lawyer, Azibaola Robert, has declared that there is no constitutional or legal barrier preventing Jonathan from running.

 

Robert, who is Jonathan’s cousin, stated this in a strongly worded reaction to comments made by the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, SAN, and prominent human rights lawyer, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, both of whom suggested Jonathan was ineligible, having been sworn in twice as president.

 

Keyamo had urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to consider Jonathan as a possible candidate in 2027, while Odinkalu argued that the former president’s tenure made him constitutionally barred.

 

However, Robert dismissed both positions, insisting that Jonathan remains “100% constitutionally and legally qualified” to run, should he decide to yield to the growing calls for his return.

 

Writing on his official Facebook page, Robert said:

“Dear Festus Keyamo, SAN, and Chidi Odinkalu (Prof.), I greet both of you. For the record, we are three lawyers. We were all pro-democracy activists in the 90s, and I was a better activist than both of you combined.

 

“RULE NO. 1: Do not offer legal advice where none is solicited. Goodluck Jonathan has numerous, more celebrated and experienced SANs at his disposal who give him sound, unblemished, professional legal advice only.

 

“GEJ is 100% constitutionally and legally qualified to contest if he chooses to. If he chooses not to yield to his overwhelming calls to contest, it would not be because he is not qualified.

 

“Your unsolicited legal view is not of any concern in his bucket list, and it will never be. Don’t waste your precious time further dwelling on this. Or should you schedule a meeting with me so you can get properly educated on the subsisting court judgements on this matter, one of which your party, APC, was a party?”

 

Robert also injected humour into his rebuttal, writing in Pidgin:

“I beg una, make we no dey put too much water inside belle for another person disco dance, make long line no form for latrine door.”

 

His intervention comes amid mounting speculation that Jonathan could rejoin the presidential race as a PDP candidate in 2027. Analysts suggest that, having served only one term after completing late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure, Jonathan could be strategically acceptable to the North, which is positioning to reclaim power in 2031.

 

Robert, however, stressed that Jonathan’s decision to run or not will depend solely on his personal conviction, not on “faulty interpretations” of the Constitution by political opponents.