Tribunal: 25% votes in FCT not mandatory to be president

The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) has dismissed the petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, on 25 per cent votes of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying Abuja is like other states.

The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani made the declaration while delivering judgement on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.

Justice Tsammani said the FCT does not hold a higher status than other states in the country.

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According to the judge, Section 134 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) stipulates that a presidential candidate must attain or score a majority of votes cast in a presidential election, where two or more candidates are involved, and at least 25% in two-thirds of the 36 states and FCT to meet the constitutional requirement to be declared as duly elected as Nigeria’s President.

He further declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was at liberty to decide the mode of transmission of election results in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.

Justice Tsammani said according to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC was at liberty to prescribe the manner in which election results were transmitted during the poll.

The judge, therefore, dismissed the petition of the Labour Party and Obi, which argued that the victory of President Tinubu be annulled on the basis of INEC’s failure to upload election results electronically in real time.

The Star