FCT votes not required to win presidential election – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that a presidential candidate does not need to secure 25% of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to win an election in Nigeria.
The commission also stated that the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, did not meet the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the February 25 election.
Furthermore, the commission dismissed the petition of Labour Party’s Peter Obi as incompetent.
However, INEC confirmed that President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the election.
In the election, Tinubu received 8,794,726 votes, defeating Atiku who received 6,984,520 and Peter Obi who received 6,101,533 votes. Both Atiku and Obi have challenged the result, but INEC told the court that the FCT is not accorded any special status in the constitution and that a candidate does not need to secure 25% of votes in the FCT to win the presidential election.
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The commission argued that the APC candidate met all legal requirements to be declared the winner, as Tinubu secured 25% of the valid votes cast in 29 states of the Federation. INEC added that, by the margin of the lead, it did not act hastily, as claimed by Atiku and the PDP, in declaring Tinubu the winner.
The Commission noted that Tinubu secured 25% of the valid votes cast in 29 states, namely: Ekiti, Kwara, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Yobe, Lagos, Gombe, Adamawa, Katsina, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi, Bauchi, Plateau, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto, Taraba, Borno and Rivers.
Finally, INEC clarified that the FCT, beyond being the country’s capital, has no special constitutional status over and above the other 36 states of the Federation. Therefore, a candidate in the presidential election does not need to obtain at least 25% of the votes cast in the FCT to be declared the winner.
Based on these arguments, INEC urged the tribunal to dismiss Atiku’s petition.
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