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<p>By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa</p><div class="BH321SUj" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

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<p>Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to overhaul Nigeria’s electoral litigation process by establishing a specialised constitutional court to handle election disputes.</p>
<p>Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja at the 70th birthday and book launch of Senator Gbenga Daniel (APC, Ogun East), Mr. Jonathan argued that a dedicated court would reduce the strain on the political system by resolving election-related cases in a single phase.</p>
<p>He criticised the current three-tier system for governorship disputes—moving from a tribunal to the Court of Appeal and finally to the Supreme Court—as ineffective and unnecessarily prolonged.</p><div class="CUy2ctwW" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

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<p>Recalling a landmark case from 2011, Jonathan highlighted how technicalities have historically undermined electoral justice. “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,” he said.</p>
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<p>“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.”</p>
<p>While acknowledging that the National Assembly later amended the law to allow governorship cases to reach the Supreme Court—specifically to prevent such injustices—Jonathan noted that the amendment failed to address the length of the litigation process.</p>
<p>The former president urged Nigeria to draw lessons from Francophone African countries, which employ specialised constitutional courts for political matters. He proposed that if the Supreme Court must remain the final arbiter for governorship elections, the lower tribunal stage should be eliminated entirely.</p>
<p>“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 take decisions,” Jonathan explained.</p>
<p>He also challenged the judiciary to exercise firmness in its rulings, drawing an analogy to football. “Politics is like soccer, and the judges are the referees. If the referee looks the other way, players will break legs or score with their hands,” he added.</p>
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