A constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Mike Ozekhome SAN has said that the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu may not have his victory for too long because his declaration as the president-elect was in violation of the requirement of the constitution stating that the winner should score 25% of votes cast in the federal capital territory.
Ozekhome, a visiting professor of Afe Babalola University, said the Independent National Electoral Commission erred in declaring Tinubu president-elect simply for having the highest votes and scoring 25% in 24 states across the country.
His position aligns with that of former commissioner of INEC, Mike Igini, who in an interview on Arise TV before the 2023 elections stated that the candidate to be declared a winner must not only score 25 percent of votes in 24 states, but must also score the same in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Giving his own opinion on the issue, rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN) said it is not compulsory for a presidential candidate to score 25% in the federal capital territory before he can be declared winner of the presidential election.
In his own explanation, Falana said that the law sees the FCT as any of the 36 states in the country.
Countering that position, Professor Ozekhome said the relevant part of the constitution clearly states that a candidate needs to win at least 25% of votes in 24 states and 25% in the FCT before he can be declared the winner of the General Elections.
Quoting section 132 and 134 of the 1999 Constitution, he said the intendment of the clause was to emphasize the need for plurality of the votes in both the states and the FCT.
He said the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, did not meet the requirement and has therefore been set up to fail if the matter is taken for judicial adjudication.
Speaking generally about the 2023 elections generally, he said the president-elect would suffer a problem of legitimacy.
He said: “The elections were therefore not fair, it was not transparent, it was not genuine, it was not credible. As for the emergent president elect, he’s going to carry a very strong heavy burden of legitimacy and lack of it on his neck like an albatross. It doesn’t require even demonstration or protest on the street to drive home this point. The issue is a moral burden on him.”
It would be recalled that ahead of the 2023 elections, a senior lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) wrote a letter to the chairman of INEC asking him to clarify the position of the electoral body on the ambivalent 25 percent vote requirement.
Agbakoba in the mail he sent to INEC in January 2023 stated that the clause was susceptible to two interpretations and asked the commission to take a position so that when the issue arose, it would be clear and fair to apply announced position of the commission.
However, the letter was not responded to.
Watch Ozekhome talk here.
