25% FCT: Abuja has no special place that will make it what we call the 'determining factor'- Onueze Okocha

Former NBA President, Onueze Okocha [SAN], has raised concerns about the interpretation of the Nigerian Constitution regarding the requirement for a presidential candidate to secure 2/3 of the votes cast in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He argues that the FCT should not be a determining factor in presidential elections.

In an interview with TVC , Okocha expressed his agreement with the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) that Abuja (the FCT) does not hold a special status that should influence the outcome of presidential elections. He believes that if a candidate has already won in 2/3 of the 29 states (excluding the FCT), there should be no necessity to require that candidate to secure 2/3 of the votes in the FCT. He views the provision that includes the FCT in the 2/3 requirement as a disjunctive term and suggests that there is nothing particularly special about the FCT that should elevate its status in determining the presidential election outcome.

In his words; ”Abuja or the Federal Capital Territory virtually has a status of a state and the interpretation given by the justices who wrote this judgment of the Presidential election tribunal, I agree with it in totally. Abuja has no special place that will make it what we call the determining factor of whether a Presidential candidate has won an election. It is what I call a disjunctive term when they say 2/3 of the votes cast in 36 states and the Federal Capital territory. Now if you won 2/3 of the votes in 29 states, there is no necessity to now consider whether the candidate who was pronounced the winner scored 2/3 of the votes cast in the FCT. There is nothing special about the FCT.”

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