Why Candidate Who Didn’t Secure 25% Votes In FCT Can Win Presidential Election -INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that opposition parties and candidates are erroneously portraying that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) should not have been declared as the president-elect as he did not win 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
INEC while responding to a petition filed before the Presidential election Petition Court by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, argued that a candidate must not secure 25% votes in the FCT to be declared winner, because the FCT wasn’t accorded any special status in the constitution.
INEC through it’s legal representative, Abubakar Mahmoud, on Tuesday, maintained that Tinubu satisfactorily won the February 25, 2023 presidential election and was validly returned having met all the legal requirements.
The electoral umpire added that Tinubu got 25% of the valid votes cast in 29 States across Nigeria.
“Having scored at least one-quarter of the valid votes cast in 29 states, which is over and above the 2/3 states threshold required by the constitution, in addition to scoring the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election, the 2nd respondent was properly declared winner and returned as the president-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, INEC said.
INEC, prayed the court to dismiss the petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, seeking for the disqualification of Tinubu and declaration of Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the presidential election.
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