…Says 25% votes in FCT compulsory to declare President-Elect
The Executive Assistant on Communications to Delta State Governor and PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, Olorogun Barr Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe has said that 25 percent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja is compulsory for a president-elect to be declared.
Oghenesivbe accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of playing the devil’s advocate by deliberately and willfully misinterpreting relevant sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, more particularly the sections which referred to FCT Abuja special status.
Recall that INEC, recently stated that it is not compulsory for the President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to garner 25% of votes cast in the FCT Abuja, on the ground that he polled 25% or above in 29 states, to clinch the highest number of votes cast.
In the same vein, INEC posited that FCT Abuja is like any other State in Nigeria without special status, and that it is not mandatory for Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC), to score 25% in FCT, a declaration that has generated multifaceted legal opinions.
According to Oghenesivbe, the PDP, her Presidential Candidate, Vice Presidential Candidate, His Excellences, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa and their legal team were correct in asking the Elections Petition Tribunal to order the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return issued to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice, for not meeting the 25% votes requirement in FCT Abuja, as stipulated in Section 134(2) of the Constitution.
Oghenesivbe noted that Section 301 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, provides: “Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of Section 299 of this Constitution in its application to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, this Constitution shall be construed as if – (a) references to the Governor, Deputy Governor and the Executive Council of a State (howsoever called) were references to the President, Vice President and the Executive Council of the Federation (howsoever called) respectively;”
He maintained that the provisions of Section 301 of the CFRN, 1999, is to the effect that the President and Vice President of Nigeria doubles as Governor and Deputy Governor of the FCT Abuja, while the Federal Executive Council plays the role of FCT Executive Council, noting that the direct and unambiguous meaning of Section 134 (b) of the Constitution expressly confirmed that for a presidential candidate to be declared President-Elect, he or she must have the highest number of votes cast at the election, he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all states in the Federation AND the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja.
From the above, Oghenesivbe who is also a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, argued that for the fact that the President-Elect will automatically become the Governor of the FCT, he MUST garner 25% of votes cast in FCT, to show that he’s both President-Elect of Nigeria and Governor-Elect of the FCT Abuja, while the Vice President-Elect doubles as Deputy Governor-Elect of FCT Abuja, respectively, going by the plain and unambiguous expression of Section 301 of the CFRN, 1999.
He averred that FCT Abuja is not expressly one of the states in Nigeria, but must be accorded recognition as if it were a state in Nigeria, noting that Section 3 (1) of the constitution listed 36 states of the federation but FCT Abuja was never listed as one of them, meaning that FCT Abuja enjoys a special status which is why the President and Vice President doubles as Governor and Deputy Governor, while the National Assembly makes Law for the FCT, whereas these special characteristics are not applicable to the 36 states of the federation listed in Section 3(1) of the constitution of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
“It’s laughable for INEC to declare that FCT Abuja does not enjoy special status. It does, judging from the provisions of Section 297, 298 and 299 of the constitution, and further consolidated by section 130 (which excluded FCT as one of the states of the federation) and 134 (2) which made it COMPULSORY for presidential candidate to score 25% votes in addition to at least 24 states or more before he can be declared President-Elect in Nigeria , respectively,” he said
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