Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has
asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to clarify section
134 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which specifies the requirements for
a candidate to be declared winner of a presidential election.
Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution provides as follows:
1) A candidate for an election to the office of President
shall be deemed to have been duly elected, where, there being only two
candidates for the election:
(a) he has the majority of votes cast at the election; and
(b) he has not 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.
(2) A candidate for an election to the office of President
shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two
candidates for the election:
(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election;
and
(b) he has not 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.
Although commending INEC for their “great job to ensure
free, fair, verifiable, credible and transparent elections”, Agbakoba said the
clarification was needed.
“I am a little worried,” he said.
“I reviewed section 134 carefully, specifically, subsections
134 (1) (b) and (2) (b), and wondered if “two-thirds of all the States in the
federation and the federal capital territory, Abuja” means either of the
following:
“a) that a
presidential candidate must score not 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
which means 24 states, the 24 States will include the federal capital territory
Abuja as a “state”, or
“b) that a presidential candidate must score not 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 which means 24 states and in addition to
meeting the one-quarter requirement in 24 states, a candidate must also win
one-quarter of the votes cast in the federal capital territory, Abuja.
“In this sense, a presidential candidate must have
one-quarter of the votes cast in the federal capital territory, Abuja, in
addition to scoring not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election
in 24 States of the Federation, to be duly elected.”
The former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
added that there are three major questions arising from his interpretation.
“(1) Is the
requirement that a presidential candidate must score not less than one-quarter
of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of the 36
States of the Federation; does this mean that the Federal Capital Territory,
Abuja is incorporated in the 24 States?” the statement reads.
“(2) Is the requirement that a presidential candidate must
score not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at
least two-thirds of the 36 States of the Federation; does it mean that the
presidential candidate must also score not less than one-quarter of the votes
cast at the election at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja?
“(3) Can a candidate
that scored not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in 36
States of the Federation but fails to score one-quarter of the votes cast at
the election at the Federal Capital Territory, be duly elected as President of
Nigeria?
“Finally, Section 134(1)(a) provides that a candidate for an
election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected,
where, there being only two candidates for the election, the candidate has the
majority of votes cast at the election, but Section 134(2) provides that a
candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have
been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election,
the candidate has the highest number of votes cast at the election. The
Constitution describes the winner in two different languages.
“One, the winner must
score the majority of votes and the other, the winner must score the highest
number of votes. This is confusing.
“To be honest, I am not quite sure of the right answers to
my questions. I just thought to bring
this to your attention as something you might wish to clarify to the public.”
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