Twenty-Five Percent Of The Votes In The FCT: A Requirement For Election Into The Office Of The President In Nigeria or Not?

by Fatai Alimi
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Election, Constitution

The above has now become a big, germane question as far as the just concluded 2023 presidential election is concerned. And this is why I have resolved to state my own perspective of it.

Section 134(2)(b) states that a candidate must have not less than 25% of total votes cast in at least two-third of all the States in the Federation and the FCT, Abuja. Clearly in this particular section of the Constitution, it appears that the Constitution creates two hurdles that ought to be crossed by a candidate before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can return him or her as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What exactly are these hurdles? What does the Constitution mean by 25% of votes in all the States in the Federation and the FCT, Abuja (FCT) and how should this be interpreted? These are the questions sought to be answered here

May I first clarify that the 1979 constitution only talked about 25% of the 2/3 of all the states without the inclusion of the FCT because the FCT was not in existence then as the Federal Capital of Nigeria. It officially became Nigeria’s capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos. So, the drafter of the Constitution amended that section in 1999 to accommodate the FCT Abuja and then treats it as an additional state of the Federation.

In my own perpective, the drafter of the Constitution only envisaged Abuja as an additional state of Nigeria, meaning Abuja shall be taken as the 37th state; and two-thirds of 37 will make 25 states which Tinubu has satisfied.

We should understand that the people living in Abuja are not super Nigerians to be specially considered by the Constitution. Making 25% of the votes in Abuja mandatory as a constitutional requirement to become the President would have put only Abuja in a special status that would put Nigerians living in Abuja in a superior status than those living in other states of the federation. And in that regard, it means if someone wins all the 36 states with a landslide and only fails to win 25% of Abuja, he would not be qualified to be president. This couldn’t have stand in the face of law because no one in Nigeria is inferior to the other. We are all equal before the law.

Section 17 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that:
(1) The State social order is founded on ideals of Freedom, Equality and Justice; and (2) In furtherance of the social order- (a) every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law.

Moreover, in examining Section 134(2)(b), we must consider the provisions of Section 299 of the Constitution which states that the provisions of the Constitution shall apply to the FCT, Abuja as if it were one of the States of the Federation

So, for those who want to treat 25 percent of Abuja votes in isolation and as a special mandatory requirement from the other 36 states, they should also consider the corresponding 2/3 constitutional requirement of the Section 132(2)(b) alongside the 25 percent requirement, meaning the 2/3 of the 25% of Abuja votes would be the requirement of the law from Abuja as a separate entity from other states, since both 2/3 and 25 percent are the common denominator of the compound sentence in that section of the Constitution. This will only make 16.67% of Abuja votes the mandatory requirement to emerge the President along other requirements.

I am not a lawyer though, but I have the right as a Nigerian to make my own submission. I hope I have been able to drive out a point with so much sense here. If 25% of the 2/3 of all Nigeria’s 36 States is what is required, we will need 25% of the 2/3 of Abuja votes also trying to treat Abuja in isolation and as a special, melting pot of the country, making it only 16.67% of Abuja votes of which Tinubu made 19.8%.

© Alimi Ibn Fattykolly

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