Jonathan urges NASS to review electoral litigation process, establish constitutional court

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s electoral litigation process and establish a “Constitutional Court” to streamline election-related issues.

Jonathan made the call at the 70th birthday and book launch of the senator representing Ogun East, Gbenga Daniel, in Abuja on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

The former president stated that a specialised court would reduce the burden on Nigeria’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 on the colour of ink used by voters.

Jonathan said: “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.”

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, the lawmakers failed to take care of the length of litigation.

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Jonathan urged Nigeria to look towards the judicial models of Francophone African countries which utilise specialised Constitutional Courts for political matters.

He added: “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.”

Extolling the virtues of the celebrant, Jonathan described Daniel as a “constructive leader” who brought an engineering mindset into the “murky waters of politics.”

The event was attended by President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; prominent traditional rulers, and political stalwarts.