NGScorecard

Congress for Progressive Change candidate Muhammadu Buhari and his party challenged Jonathan's victory in the April 2011 presidential election, alleging widespread irregularities and non-compliance with electoral law across several states.

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the petition, affirming Jonathan's election. The judgment, alongside broadly positive international observer assessments of the election itself, helped cement the 2011 poll's status as more credible than its immediate predecessors.

Riots and reprisal violence following Jonathan's declared victory in the April 2011 election killed over 800 people across several northern states, among the deadliest episodes of post-election violence in Nigeria's history. A presidential panel led by retired Justice Sheikh Ahmed Lemu was set up to investigate the causes and recommend accountability measures.

The Lemu Panel's report, submitted in October 2011, named individuals and made recommendations for prosecution and compensation for victims' families. The government did not publish a comprehensive account of prosecutions arising from the report, and most of its recommendations were not visibly implemented before the end of Jonathan's term.

A bitter political feud between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, a Jonathan critic within the PDP, and a faction loyal to the Jonathan-aligned federal leadership split the Rivers State House of Assembly into rival factions, each claiming to be the legitimate legislature and disputing control of the Assembly complex, at times involving physical clashes.

Courts at various levels ruled on aspects of the dispute, generally recognising Amaechi's faction as legitimate, a setback for the Jonathan-aligned camp. The crisis was a visible symptom of the wider split within the PDP that contributed to several governors, including Amaechi, defecting to the opposition ahead of the 2015 election.

Following the video evidence of lawmaker Farouk Lawan allegedly collecting a $620,000 bribe during the fuel subsidy probe he chaired, the Federal Government filed bribery-related charges against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The trial proceeded slowly through pre-trial motions and adjournments, and had not reached a verdict by the time Jonathan left office in May 2015. Lawan retained his House seat throughout the proceedings under Jonathan's term.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) sued the federal government demanding full disclosure of the names of companies and individuals indicted in the 2012 fuel subsidy fraud probe, and an accounting of any recovered funds.

The court ordered fuller disclosure, but the government's response fell well short of a comprehensive public accounting, and most named companies faced no visible consequence before the end of Jonathan's term.

After being suspended as CBN Governor in February 2014, Sanusi challenged the suspension in court as procedurally improper and politically motivated, given that it came days after he publicly alleged NNPC had failed to remit billions of dollars in oil revenue.

A Federal High Court in Lagos ruled in Sanusi's favour and ordered his reinstatement pending full determination of the substantive suit. The government did not comply, and the matter became moot when his five-year statutory term expired in June 2014 without his having returned to office.

Incumbent APC Governor Kayode Fayemi lost the June 2014 Ekiti State governorship election to PDP's Ayo Fayose and petitioned the tribunal, alleging irregularities including the unusual deployment of security forces during the campaign period.

The tribunal and, on appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld Fayose's victory, dismissing Fayemi's petition. The PDP retained Ekiti State, and the result was seen at the time as evidence of Jonathan-era PDP strength in the South-West ahead of the 2015 general election.

PDP candidate Iyiola Omisore challenged incumbent APC Governor Rauf Aregbesola's re-election in the August 2014 Osun State governorship contest, alleging vote manipulation and irregularities in the collation process.

The tribunal and Court of Appeal dismissed Omisore's petition and upheld Aregbesola's victory, a defeat for the Jonathan-aligned PDP candidate. Unlike Ekiti, Osun stayed with the opposition APC, illustrating the PDP's uneven fortunes across the South-West in the run-up to the 2015 general election.