BREAKING: 25% Votes In FCT Not Mandatory To Win Presidential Election – Tribunal Rules

BREAKING: 25% Votes In FCT Not Mandatory To Win Presidential Election – Tribunal Rules

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has clarified that it is not obligatory for a presidential candidate to secure 25 percent of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be declared the winner.

In its judgment on the petition brought by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP), the court determined that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was legally entitled to declare President Bola Tinubu the winner of the election, even if he did not achieve the 25 percent vote threshold in the FCT.

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Justice Haruna Tsammani, in the lead judgment, emphasized that the FCT does not possess any special status within the Constitution. The Constitution is intended to apply to the FCT in the same manner as it does to any of the nation’s states.

The court criticized the petitioners’ assertion that 25 percent of the votes were mandatory, deeming it a misinterpretation of the framers’ intentions when drafting the Constitution.

In resolving all four issues raised in the petition against Obi and the LP, the court concluded that the petition was unequivocally without merit.