PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest for president in 2015, an Abuja High Court declared in a ruling on Friday.
The ruling comes amid recent claims by certain members of the president’s political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, that Mr. Jonathan cannot run for second term as he had promised to serve only one term of office.
There is however no evidence of President Jonathan entering into any such agreement.
Mr. Jonathan began serving his first full term as president in 2011, after initially taking over in acting capacity from early 2010 following the illness and eventual death of then President Umaru Yar’Adua for whom he served as deputy.
A presidential aspirant from within the ruling People’s Democratic Party had argued that this disqualified him.
The Abuja High Court dismissed the argument made by Cyriacus Njoku’s lawyer that under the constitution the same person could not take the oath of office three times.
The PDP and its presidential candidate have won every election since military rule ended in 1999.
Last month, Nigeria’s four main opposition parties merged to form All Progressive Congress party in order to challenge the PDP in two years’ time.