The Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has ruled that former President Goodluck Jonathan remains constitutionally qualified to contest the 2027 presidential election. Delivering judgment, Justice Isa Dashen held that Jonathan’s assumption of office in 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was not through an election but a constitutional succession. He added that Jonathan had been elected only once—in 2011—well within the constitutional limit of two electoral terms. The court also clarified that the 2017 constitutional amendment, which came into effect in June 2018 and restricts anyone who completed another’s tenure from being elected more than once, does not apply retroactively to Jonathan’s case. With no appeal filed against the decision, the ruling paves the way for Jonathan’s possible return to the ballot in the February 2027 presidential race.