The Nigerian Supreme Court on Thursday described the argument of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party respectively that Bola Tinubu’s victory should be nullified because he did not score 25% of the votes cast in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
The apex court made this known in its ruling on the appeal trial initiated by Atiku and Obi.
The presiding justice said, “Let me drive this matter home. The poser rendered by the learned senior counsel for the second respondent in the brief comes handy. Assuming that the candidate scores the highest number of votes in the presidential election and has 25% of 1/4 of votes in 30 out of 36 States and Abuja but failed to secure 25% in the FCT. Are we saying that he cannot be president? Is that what the Constitution intended? I don’t think so.
“The court below made it very clear when it held that if the framers of the constitution had wanted to make the scoring of 1/4 of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory a specific requirement for the return of a presidential candidate, they would have made that intention plain by using words that clearly separate the scoring of 1/4 of votes in the Federal Capital Territory as a distinct requirement.
“And of course, the above decision of the lower court is unassailable and I have no difficulty in agreeing with it.”
The apex court therefore resolved the matter against the appellants.
