Falana says president-elect failed to secure 25% of votes cast in presidential election

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, says votes cast in all parts of Nigeria are equal, saying that Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory has been interpreted to be the 37th state of the country.

Section 134 sub-section 1 (b) of the 1999 Constitution states that a winner of a presidential election must not have less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to secure 25% votes in the FCT, raising concerns about the interpretation of that section of the Constitution. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party have filed petitions at the Presidential Election Tribunal challenging Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.