Former President has faulted Nigeria’s multi-layer election tribunal structure, calling on the national assembly to reform the country’s electoral dispute process.
Jonathan made the remarks in Abuja on Wednesday at the 70th birthday celebration and book launch of Gbenga Daniel.
The former president proposed the creation of a “constitutional court” to handle election-related matters, noting that such a system would ease pressure on Nigeria’s political and judicial framework.
According to him, the existing three-tier litigation process for governorship elections — from tribunal to the court of appeal and then the supreme court — has proven ineffective.
He recalled a 2011 case where a governorship candidate lost an election due to a technical issue involving the colour of ink used by voters.
“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.
“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.”
Jonathan explained that although the national assembly later amended the law to allow governorship cases to reach the supreme court, the lengthy litigation process remains unresolved.
He urged Nigeria to adopt models used in Francophone African countries, where specialised constitutional courts exclusively handle political and electoral disputes.
“If the supreme court would continue to be the terminal court for governors’ elections, then they don’t need to go through the lower tribunal so that it would just be one step,” he added.
“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.”
He also called on the judiciary to be decisive in order to improve Nigeria’s political system.
“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.
Praising the celebrant, Jonathan described Daniel as a “constructive leader” who applied an engineering mindset to governance.
He recounted how Daniel was chosen as south-west zonal coordinator for his 2015 presidential campaign due to his credibility and ability to bridge political divides.
“I can attest to the fact that he is a man that really thinks like an engineer — very constructive and dedicated,” Jonathan said.
He also commended Daniel for documenting his life experiences in books, stressing the importance of personal narratives in correcting public misconceptions.
“I always appreciate people who put on paper their experiences and what happens to them. I pray and hope I will also do one day so that younger people will read about Goodluck Jonathan,” he said.
“There are a lot of stories about me. Maybe 50 percent of them, whenever I read, they are not correct. But people say whatever they want to say.
“So, it’s only when the author himself, when the actor documents it, then people say, oh, this is what happened.”
President was represented at the event by , while former president and several traditional rulers were also in attendance.