Nigeria’s Presidential Electoral Tribunal Court has ruled that a presidential candidate does not need to score 25% of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as the law states that for one to become President, he must score 25%, one-quarter, in one-third of 37 states in Nigeria, inclusive of the FCT.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, who heads the electoral tribunal, said this at the electoral tribunal judgement ruling.
Justice Tsammani also said, as regards the 25% votes in the FCT, that the interpretation of section 134 (2) a & b of the constitution by the labour party team of lawyers is completely “fallacious if not outrightly ludicrous.”
According to PEPC, the use of the word “and” in the Labour Party’s Peter Obi’s submission doesn’t suggest anything exceptional. The court further notes that the FCT is the sole state mentioned in section 134 (2) a and b of the constitution, which exclusively refers to the 36 states of the federation.
Tsammani said, “The Federal Capital Territory Abuja is to be treated as one of those in the calculation of totals of the state of the federation such that if the candidate scores 25%- one-quarter of votes in two-thirds of 37 states of the federation, FCT Abuja inclusive, the presidential candidate should have been deemed to have been duly elected even if he fails to score 25% of the votes casted in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as the second respondent did.”
“In conclusion, I have found without any equivocation that in a presidential election, only one-quarter or 25% of total votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory is not a separate pre-condition for a candidate to be duly elected under Section 134 of the constitution.”
In saying this, he said that the verdict was in favour of the respondents.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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