25% FCT Votes: By Virtue Of Section 299, Abuja Is The 37th State Of The Federation – Barr. Oshoma

Amid the ongoing debate that has trailed the demand for a valid Constitutional interpretation of the 25% electoral votes secured in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory, renowned lawyer, and political analyst, Barrister Liborous Oshoma has come out to share a section of the Constitution that does not imbue Abuja with any special status compared to other states.

Speaking during an interview on Central TV on Tuesday, Oshoma pointed out that based on Section 299 of the Nigerian Constitution, Abuja is considered the 37th state of the Federation and nothing else.

Going further, the renowned lawyer argued that the votes from the FCT cannot, therefore, be seen as superior to the votes cast in the other thirty-six states of the country.

He said; “I would say, with all due respect, that my position has consistently been that the FCT, by virtue of Section 299 of the Constitution, is a 37th State of the Federation. And so, the votes from the FCT are not premium votes that will now mean that if you do not score twenty-five percent in the FCT, you cannot be declared the winner.

Now, assuming without conceding, I want to also ask a question; are we now saying that by Section 134, if a candidate in an election scores a hundred percent of the votes in the thirty-six states of the Federation, and did not win any vote in the FCT, are we to say that the candidate should not be declared the winner because he failed to secure 25% in Abuja? That is not the intendment of the Legislature, and that is not the interpretation that will give superior votes to the FCT.”

SOURCE: YouTube (Forward video to 9:01).

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