The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani, asserted that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) does not possess any distinct status compared to the other 36 states within the Federation.
This is concerning the requisite 25% of votes mandated in the presidential election conducted on February 25.
According to the Vanguard, Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, secured approximately 59 percent of the cast ballots, a percentage that surpassed both President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, who garnered 19 percent, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 15 percent.
Addressing the assertions made by the Labour Party and Obi regarding the voting criteria, the five-member panel, convening in Abuja on Wednesday, stated that residents of the FCT do not enjoy any exceptional privileges, as contended by the petitioners.
They emphasized that Sections 134 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) outline the prerequisites for a presidential candidate.
These provisions stated that a presidential candidate must secure a majority of votes in an election involving two or more candidates and obtain at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the 36 states and the FCT to fulfill the constitutional requirement for a valid election as President of Nigeria.
The tribunal dismissed the petitioners’ interpretation of Section 134(2)(b) of the 1999 constitution as “entirely erroneous, if not absurdly preposterous.”
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