NewStats: 3,264,424 , 8,183,699 topics. Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2025 at 04:18 AM 5r65i

dat9jaguy:



Come and paste the full article and not this. You did not put where he drew his conclusion which is it is not mandatory to get 25% in FCT to be declared president.
Also give credit to the source.

Don't mind the guy

LocalStandard1:
This used to be a simple and straight forward issue before the 2023 elections. But a situation can not be said to be simple if rules and laws set aside are not followed before the event.

Section 134(2) States that a candidate must (a) have the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) 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.

'At least' and 'and the' statements are enough for one just waking up from a deep sleep to understand an instruction. "Bring two thirds (24) and the special one".

But for those who say the FCT has no special status do not know the situation of an FCT and are not clear about the Law. Yes the FCT has the status of a State but is not a State. All Nigerian laws describe the FCT separately when Laws are made, Never 37 States but 36 and the FCT. Except....



That is why the Constitution, in all its wisdom, made the 25% votes in the FCT a conjunction in the Law. Without which a candidate can not and will not be said to meet the requirements. By default a President is like the Governor of the FCT, like. But how can he be seen as such and even have the power to appoint his representatives if he was never recognized by his own supposed district?
As Nigerian States went out to vote on the 18 of match for governorship candidates the FCT are expected by Law to have done theirs in the Presidential elections, and that is the 25 percentile requirement.

A candidate is not required to win all 36 States AND THE FCT, instead only two-thirds of the States (24) AND THE FCT. The Supreme Court was clear about that few year ago.

Are the people living in ABUJA have two heads?

chizagi:
top quality long lasting polysterene parapet

Like how much will it cost to do polysterene parapet for a 3 bedroom bungalow.

Just a projected rough estimate

.

Beremx:
Peter Obi isn't challenging the results. He is challenging the process that made Tinubu president elect.

That's a smart move.

There's nothing smart there. There's nothing magnificent or extraordinary in Peter Obi's petition.
It's normal thing to do.
There's no judicial abracadabra[b] that Peter obi wants to perform. The same thing is being done by Atiku.

Please, let's stop IRONING rags

BluntCrazeMan:



No Court had ruled exactly on this very issue before.

(Meanwhile, please read Section-299(a) of the Nigerian Constitution - As Amended..)





So, we are all speculating at this very moment.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON SECTION 134(2) AND SECTION 299

The Court of Appeal in Okoyode v FCDA4 had cause to interpret Section 299 of the Constitution on whether the FCT was a State and in its decision stated that the FCT should be treated as one of the States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
You can read more on this. There is already a preceding clause on this issue. Tribunal won't even waste 10 minutes deliberating on it

Why do we a lot of dull people on nairaland?

BluntCrazeMan:
It's Very Simple..



The President of Nigeria is also the “istrative Head” of Abuja as a Sub-National Unit.

Therefore, nobody can become a “President” if up to 25% of the Abuja Indigenes and residents didn't even vote for him to become their “istrative Head” in Abuja.


That would be like impoon the Abuja Electorates, someone whom they didn't even vote for..

Section 134(2) that a candidate must (a) have the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) 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.

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.



Before we proceed to review and give an interpretation to these provisions, we must bear in mind that the Constitution is not read and interpreted like any other book, there are rules for interpreting the Constitution and we will now examine same.

RULES FOR INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

In the 2022 decision of FRN v Nganjiwa3 the Supreme Court, while relying on some of its earlier decisions, reiterated the settled position on how to interpret provisions of the Constitution as follows:

(a)Where the words of the Constitution are clear and unambiguous, a literal interpretation will be applied.

(b) Where there is ambiguity in a literal interpretation, a holistic interpretation would be resorted to.

(c) All sections must be read together and purposively so that no section is rendered redundant or superfluous.

(d) If the words remain ambiguous, the intention of the makers of the Constitution must be discovered to determine the mischief sought to be cured.

(e) The Court is entitled to consider how the law stood when the statute was ed, what the mischief was for which the old law did not provide and the remedy which has been provided by the new law.

Hence, the Constitution is to be interpreted purposively and holistically and where a literal reading of the Constitution leads to absurdity, recourse must be made to the mischief which the law seeks to cure.

It is important also, that we consider how the Courts have interpreted these provisions of the Constitution, although on dissimilar facts, as this will guide us on how the Courts are likely to interpret these provisions even though on a different set of facts.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON SECTION 134(2) AND SECTION 299

The Court of Appeal in Okoyode v FCDA4 had cause to interpret Section 299 of the Constitution on whether the FCT was a State and in its decision stated that the FCT should be treated as one of the States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In essence, the question submitted to the Court was whether the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) was an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Court in answer stated that the FCDA was an agency of the FCT which is a separate unit from the Federal Government and should rather be seen as a State and a separate istrative unit distinct from the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
COPIED


Point 2
Going by the analogy above. It's been established by a competent court of law that FCT should be considered as a state.
Proving further,
Mathematically.
Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State apart from FCT is 23.9 or 24 states approximately.

But, Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State (+), (and) including from FCT is 24.6 approximately 25 states

Conclusion.
Interpretation of the said constitution even prove further that wining or getting 25% in FCT is not a must.

ballisticINFO:
1) 25% of 36 boys and girls is 9...... That's assuming the 36 is number of boys + number of girl

2) Answer is still 9

I am obedient

It's been established by a competent court of law that FCT should be considered as a state.
Proving further,
Mathematically.
Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State apart from FCT is 23.9 or 24 states approximately.

But, Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State (+), (and) including from FCT is 24.6 approximately 25 states

AntiChristian:


Yes!
That's my position from the start!

If you agree then scoring 25% in FCT is not a must then

iSense247:
1. Obi say Tinubu “was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in case no:93C 4483″ between the United States of America and Bola Tinubu. Meaning Tinubu was an alleged DRUG BARON. Anybody wey don pay fine to any govt for drug business no suppose contest for any election for Nigeria. (I go explain this more in my bullet) .

2. Obi say Tinubu no suppose to appoint Shettima as Vice because at the time wey he appointed Shettima, say the guy was still senator contesting for Borno and also at the same time contesting for Vice President. It was against the electoral act. Yet, INEC approve am. He submit evidence to prove am. So therefore Tinubu elections is void.

3. Obi say, them say for the electoral act dem go use BVAS and submit result , dem no do am. So therefore the election should be canceled.

4. Obi say the electoral act say to be declared President you must win at least two third of all state and and Abuja but say he no win am and even in Abuja he no score the 25% so no be for am.

5. Obi say the forensic evidence wey he get show say votes wey INEC record many the accreditation wey the Obi forensic do and that they have the evidence to prove it on so many states and if na so, the electoral law say the whole election would be canceled.

6. And say votes wey dem count for Tinubu for Rivers, Lagos,Taraba, Benue,Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno , Kaduna, Plateau, and other states of the Federation na Obi votes them give Tinubu and their forensic prove am.

7. Say INEC violate their own law by announcing Tinubu as President when them never result finish for their Portal. So it has to be canceled.

8. Obi say the law wey set up INEC say if Pooling agent see any wahala and report am , INEC suppose stop the election or cancel am until they address the issue of agents. But say dem no do am even as many polling agents and LP agent raised alarm of politicians forcing them to write fake results. Say he get plenty evidence to show.

This promises to be the biggest election trial in Africa. Obi is not leaving any stone unturned. His team are making frantic effort to get U.S department to testify that such case transpired and that Tinubu forfeited 460k dollars to avoid jail.

Buy pop corn and chill. Interesting days ahead

The first petition lacks substance would be thrown out like a rocket leaving its launcher. Tinubu was never criminallly convicted of any crime of drug dealing, yes he was tried.

The second petition has already been filed by Pdp in court case [/b]FHC/ABJ/CS/1734/2022[/b] before the election began. You can read up on it.

The third petition lacks substance. Bvas was actually use to capture and results. There's no provision for electronic collation of results in our electoral act.

The fourth petition has been settled in the court already. Read up on The Court of Appeal in Okoyode v FCDA4.

The sixth petition is weighty and has substance.

The seventh petition is very weak. I am not aware of any law says Inec must declare a candidate winner of an election by using the results on their electronic portal. This petition lacks technicality.

The 8th petition is the dullest one. Does Obi want the whole electoral process to be suspended throughout the whole federation just because of an irregularity in some polling units?

AntiChristian:


12.66 States is approximately the 2/3 required!

He had 12 states already so i agree that the 0.66 remaining should not be approximated to 1.00.
0.66 of a state should be allocated to him. This was the 19.9% he got from Kano!

I don't think the law was wrong here in any big way! This is mathematical!

Jokay07

The 13th state was the issue, which was Kano State. Shagari scored 243,423 votes, equivalent to 19.4% of the 1,220,763 total votes cast in Kano State.
Even The Supreme Court later stated that the ruling decision on that case should not be cited as precedent and even in later years, apologised for the judgment.
However, that is not even tenable under the current siege of 1999 constitution as amended.

I have said to many people, two-third of Peter Obi's petition are gross abuse of court process because most of them have been tried already.

AntiChristian:


Agreed!
And you are still on point with the chat gpt in the end!

Lolzz.
So you aggred that winning FCT is not a must

AntiChristian:


The bone of contention that needs to be determined is if FCT can be regarded as a state in the constitution!
And Section 299 has been interpreted by the AI.

And that has been interpreted in reality too.

Background
In 1979, Shehu Shagari was ruled to have won the Election and this was confirmed by the supreme court despite needing 25% of votes in Lagos (then FCT) to have won!

Awolowo won Lagos (as FCT then) with 82.3% votes while Shagari had a meagre 7.18%.

Lagos was counted with other states!
2/3 of 19 = 12.66

Awolowo wanted an approximation to 13 so that Shagari would not win!
But Shagari won since he had that 12.66!

And there are other related court rulings that s that chat gpt conclusion!

Firstly, the judicial proceeding you called upon was nothing but judicial miscarriage .
That's why it was regarded as a day "law died in Nigeria"

Secondly,
You are misquoting the whole judicial process. The bone of contention then as declared by Chief Obafemi Awolo was never about the Federal capital but having less than one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two thirds of all the (19) states within the federation which Shagari did not have.

And By the declared results agreed,
Shehu Shagari got 25% of the votes cast in twelve (12) states; namely:
Bauchi,
Bendel,
Borno,
Cross River,
Gongola,
Kaduna,
Kwara,
Niger,
Plateau,
Rivers
and Sokoto.
The 13th state was the issue. It was Kano state – where Shagari scored 243,423 votes, equivalent to 19.4% of the 1,220,763 votes cast in total.
That aside, that is not where I going.
The issue as regards whether the Federal capital should be regarded as a State has been settled already. Read below


JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON SECTION 134(2) AND SECTION 299

The Court of Appeal in Okoyode v FCDA4 had cause to interpret Section 299 of the Constitution on whether the FCT was a State and in its decision stated that the FCT should be treated as one of the States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In essence, the question submitted to the Court was whether the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) was an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Court in answer stated that the FCDA was an agency of the FCT which is a separate unit from the Federal Government and should rather be seen as a State and a separate istrative unit distinct from the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

AntiChristian:


This confirms Chat GPT below;

Lolz. Wtf!!
You are using AI to interpret the constitution?
Is that what Peter obi would present in Court?

Can you tell the AI to interpret the ⅔ of 36 states and ⅔of 36 States and FCT?

Section 134(2) that a candidate must (a) have the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) 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.

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.



Before we proceed to review and give an interpretation to these provisions, we must bear in mind that the Constitution is not read and interpreted like any other book, there are rules for interpreting the Constitution and we will now examine same.

RULES FOR INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

In the 2022 decision of FRN v Nganjiwa3 the Supreme Court, while relying on some of its earlier decisions, reiterated the settled position on how to interpret provisions of the Constitution as follows:

(a)Where the words of the Constitution are clear and unambiguous, a literal interpretation will be applied.

(b) Where there is ambiguity in a literal interpretation, a holistic interpretation would be resorted to.

(c) All sections must be read together and purposively so that no section is rendered redundant or superfluous.

(d) If the words remain ambiguous, the intention of the makers of the Constitution must be discovered to determine the mischief sought to be cured.

(e) The Court is entitled to consider how the law stood when the statute was ed, what the mischief was for which the old law did not provide and the remedy which has been provided by the new law.

Hence, the Constitution is to be interpreted purposively and holistically and where a literal reading of the Constitution leads to absurdity, recourse must be made to the mischief which the law seeks to cure.

It is important also, that we consider how the Courts have interpreted these provisions of the Constitution, although on dissimilar facts, as this will guide us on how the Courts are likely to interpret these provisions even though on a different set of facts.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON SECTION 134(2) AND SECTION 299

The Court of Appeal in Okoyode v FCDA4 had cause to interpret Section 299 of the Constitution on whether the FCT was a State and in its decision stated that the FCT should be treated as one of the States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In essence, the question submitted to the Court was whether the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) was an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Court in answer stated that the FCDA was an agency of the FCT which is a separate unit from the Federal Government and should rather be seen as a State and a separate istrative unit distinct from the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
COPIED


Point 2
Going by the analogy above. It's been established by a competent court of law that FCT should be considered as a state.
Proving further,
Mathematically.
Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State apart from FCT is 23.9 or 24 states approximately.

But, Getting 25% votes in Two third (⅔) of 36 State (+), (and) including from FCT is 24.6 approximately 25 states

Conclusion.
Interpretation of the said constitution even prove further that wining or getting 25% in FCT is not a must.

I have gone through Obi's petition and all I can say is
1. Some of it would be thrown out at the Tribunal for lack of substance

2. The remaining are gross abuse of court process because some of them have been tried in court before

Hyperchi:

But crime was established and guilty was said.
Be4 ur property will be taken. U have pleg guilty to the crime

You still don't get it, mere undergoing criminal charge is not enough to disqualify a candidate except if the candidate is criminallly convicted.

Hyperchi:
But I crime was paid for, by forfeit.

There are different types of forfeiture in US judicial system

nnamdi640:
If he was cleared or innocent as you guys sees it why then did he have to forfeit a certain amount of money?

There's a difference between forfeiture and conviction

The first petition on the drug case is dead on arrival already.
Tinubu was later cleared by the same US government on court case as contained here
https://nairaland.moviesx.org/7622631/copy-letter-us-which-cleared

Point by point discussion.

1 Obi say Tinubu “was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in case no:93C 4483″ between the United States of America and Bola Tinubu. Meaning Tinubu was an alleged DRUG BARON. Anybody wey don pay fine to any govt for drug business no suppose contest for any election for Nigeria .( I go explain this more in my bullet) .

2.Obi say Tinubu no suppose to appoint Shettima as Vice because at the time wey he appointed Shettima , say the guy was still senator contesting for Borno and also at the same time contesting for Vice President. It was against the electoral act. Yet, INEC approve am . He submit evidence to prove am. So therefore Tinubu elections is void.

3. Obi say , them say for the electoral act dem go use BVAS and submit result , dem no do am . So therefore the election should be canceled.

4.Obi say the electoral act say to be declared President you must win at least two third of all state and and Abuja but say he no win am and even in Abuja he no score the 25% so no be for am.

5. Obi say the forensic evidence wey he get show say votes wey INEC record many the accreditation wey the Obi forensic do and that they have the evidence to prove it on so many states and if na so, the electoral law say the whole election would be canceled.

6. And say votes wey dem count for Tinubu for Rivers, Lagos,Taraba, Benue,Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno , Kaduna, Plateau, and other states of the Federation na Obi votes them give Tinubu and their forensic prove am.

7.Say INEC violate their own law by announcing Tinubu as President when them never result finish for their Portal. So it has to be canceled.

8. Obi say the law wey set up INEC say if Pooling agent see any wahala and report am , INEC suppose stop the election or cancel am until they address the issue of agents. But say dem no do am even as many polling agents and LP agent raised alarm of politicians forcing them to write fake results. Say he get plenty evidence to show.

©julaion
Bluntcrazeman
Ihordspy

jimyjames:

Why not make jezz of the city boy who was defeated in his own city?

That's the beauty of democracy sir.
You can't have it all

Rutherford2019:
After listening to Atedo Peterside yesterday I came to conclusion that Obi got 5p% and above across 36 states and the FCT
According to him, someone called him and told him that LP got 197 in his polling unit but got 185 in the whole LGA when the result was announced
He said that the trend was exchange Obi's vote for Tinubu and leave Atiku's untouched
The question is if the people of Katsina, Kaduna, Kano Ekiti and ondo voted for Tinubu why are they not celebrating?
I was in ondo in 2015 and there was wide jubilation when Buhari won even though he's not from SW
All my friends from SW used LP logo on their profile picture
Infact I met Tunde in my workplace he is from Osun and what he told me after Osun governorship election is Adeleke for governors..I asked him for president and he said 'Peter Obi na'
I learned that even many northerners voted for Obi
According to APC PCC,LP has no polling agents in northwest meaning they rigged there unwatched and that's why Obi appears to perform poorly there..

Obi is coming

So far, nobody has been able to disprove the results on irev and the ones on poll sheets.

Peter obi knows this and that's why he said that he is not challenging the outcome of the results but the process of the election.


If these are the evidences you would put before Tribunal and I can confidently tell you that "Obi is coming" is simply a propriety of imagination..

aycapri:
tell us what it is

Hi, how can it be done

BluntCrazeMan:
Pathetic..


Both INEC,,, and this comment of yours.

Guess the truth hits the spot

BluntCrazeMan:


Read the first emboldened part again.
Like, the rest of the Nigerians are Zombies?
So that INEC can wake up at the middle of the night and introduce anything,, or cancel anything.??


Well..
Since the tribunal process has commenced...
Let them do what they had to do.
Both the INEC and all the Legal Teams..
It's all part of what must be done -- at least, for now

Inec didn't make any decision overnight. It was reported on tradition news media that there was a technical glitch on the eve of the election.

BluntCrazeMan:
I really don't know why we still think that the INEC’s “IREV-Portal” is the Game-Changer when it comes to the current electoral settings...

Whereas it is supposed to be the INEC’s “E-Collation-System” that we should be seeing as the main Game-Changer here..
Then, it can be backed-up with the IREV-Portal.

And the truth is that,, the INEC’s “E-Collation-System had already been procured by the INEC Long ago, and it had been used successfully by the INEC on many occasions..
They call it CSRVS -- meaning: “Collation and Results Verification System”...

Yet we were busy demanding to have a little few of the remaining crumbs that fall off the table (i.e, the ing of photos of results to the IREV-Portal),,, whereas we kept missing the main thing, which is the immediate transmission to the “E-Collation-System”, which is supposed to immediately collate all the transmitted Polling-units Results, and make the e-collated results quickly and readily available to all the Wards and LGAs, which would then be used for the Verification and Confirmation of all the Collated Results -- Starting from all the various Wards and LGAs nationwide.

Before taking the photographs of the result-sheets for ing them into the IREV-PORTAL, the polling-units results are first-of-all keyed-in (or entered-in) into the ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION APP (which is inside the BVAS-Machine) by the Presiding Officers at the various Polling-units, which then transmits directly to the E-Collation-System for immediate collation.

The INEC’s “E-Collation-System” (that is, the CSRVS) is what we should seriously be demanding for at this point in time.

INEC had already used this CSRVS-System in the EKITI and Osun Elections, and it worked very well.

**(Frankly speaking...

The actual reason why the INEC decided not to use it in the Presidential Election is what I really cannot fathom..)

Inec decision to abandon e-collation of results is not a violation of electoral law or the constitution.
Inec as an independent body must remain independent in making and alternating Thier guidelines.

Good afternoon. Inec has granted obi's legal team access to information. It's an absolute exercise in futility.

What's your tske on this?

PrinceOfLagos:
Lol

I pity who no fear Peter Obi

Somebody that has never lost any court case before

A man that used this same court to get back his stolen mandate as governor of Anambra state twice

If care is not taken, Kwankwaso might overtake obi after all the over bloated votes have been deducted in Tribunal and obi will come fourth.

No be who first call police dey win case oo

Parachoko:
Yes you're right

By May 29, he will become useless in the APC.

Apart from that, Ngige is part of the (cabal) hurdles Tinubu overcame during his campaign.
Ask me how? With the way he intentionally mishandled ASUU strike before the campaign started.
He did that so as to smack Tinubu's electioneering image.

BluntCrazeMan:



Instead of you to answer my simple question inside the other uncrowded harmless thread,, you're here mentioning my moniker on another thread.

Nevertheless,, I will still respond to you..

Now..
Let me still drag you back to that same Electoral-Act-2022: Section-64; Sub-Section-(4);.(a-&-b)..

The words there are very clear.

We can all agree that the “Directly-Transmitted Results From The Various Polling-units”, as described inside the Electoral Act, could be done using any method on this earth, (be it “Optical-Fibre Transmission”, “Solar-Waves Transmission”, “Radio Transmission”, “Sonar Transmission”, and even “Seismic Transmission” too),, but definitely NOT “Manual Transmission”, because it wouldn't satisfy the expected requirements of the Electoral Act.


Section-64(4) of the Electoral Act simply maintains that, no matter the Method or Mode which INEC employed for the Transmission of the results (“Directly from the Polling-units”),, it MUST be completely done-and-dusted with before the Collations that are supposed to use the results from those polling-units would start.
This is because,, those directly transmitted results are the results which the Collation Officers at the various “WARDS COLLATION CENTERS” must use to satisfy the requirements of the Section-64(4) of the Electoral-Act-2022.



Therefore,, this particular Court-Ruling still didn't deflate my arguments..


Please read the Section-64; Sub-Section-(4):.(a-&-b) of the Electoral-Act-2022 again,, and explain it well to me,, just in case I am not understanding it very well..

Sorry I have been very busy lately, though it shouldn't be an excuse.

However, I dont think that there's much to argue here since we have agreed the electronic transmission of results is not enshrined in the electoral act.

This means that it's under inec guidelines and Inec as an independent body can choose whatever method that seems ok for them to collate results.
So, to save each other's time, let's focus on what the electoral act says rather than committing "legal sacrilage" by rewriting and misinterpreting the inec electoral act intentionally so as to suit our narrative.

Secondly, going through the electoral act and the constitution, I have noticed some words there and I would like to draw your attention to them.

1. Transmit

2. Directly.
Let get to know the meaning of these two words before I proceed with my defence further.

My lord, I rest my case.