Not buying this rumor. Same man promised free and fair elections. He should handover and let the court do its job.

You need to address Section 299 as well to reach a conclusion.
I also wonder if the interpretation would differ without THE?? “To be declared winner of a presidential election, you must win 25% of total votes in 2/3 of states and the FCT”

2mch:

Abuja is part of the elected government and that is why their Minister essentially acts as Governor who is appointed by the winner of the election. So Abuja is an attachment to the winner of these elections and is essentially a state being governed by them as well as the country. We are the ones determining Abuja’s governance, not the other way around.

Fair points.

2mch:

Lmaooo. That makes no sense at all. A Nigerian even in the creek is as equal as a Nigerian in Abuja. So there is no distinguishing and elevating anybody’s vote because they live in the Federal Capital. Does not happen anywhere in the world. Failed campaign and waste of money.

It is simple and basic logic. Because you people go bonkers at very simple things because of very low IQ.

You’re right that we are all equal. Does the FCT have gubernatorial elections? It’s more complex than what you believe. Let the courts decide.

gabbasin:
The obidients are headless mob truly, they can believe anything the more it will give hope to an utopian Obi presidency. Even if they can't comprehend the constitutional 25% in 2/3 of 36 states and FCT, at least they should apply common sense and logic, so if a candidate wins in all the 36 states he can't still be declared president because he couldn't get 25% of Abuja votes? And the funny thing is that their vice presidential candidate is harping on this as the reason why Tinubu shouldnt have been declared president elect. Datti is really a daft

In that case, there will be a runoff and the contestant would likely win. In a runoff, the 25% rule is no longer in play.

“I think some blocks of flats. Maybe, he happened to be in that block of flats too.”

Think? Maybe? You either have the facts or you don’t.

BAT may have a shady past but he wasn’t convicted.

DevilsEqual:


So in your own view, do you think its a strong case or not
do u also think its within the jurisdiction of the supreme court?
possibility of DEA OR FBI testifying in court...that too, at the tribunal

It’s not a strong case because to bar a person from presidential eligibility, there needs to be a conviction of the person. I don’t understand your second question. Nigeria can’t try Tinubu for that matter though. I don’t see the DEA or FBI testifying. We can’t convict Tinubu in Nigeria over that matter. If they can submit documents to prove Tinubu was convicted then they should or would have already.

NothingDoMe:
FBI agent Kevin Moss requested that the courts freeze Tinubu's account. No individual has the power to approach the court to freeze a person's account except he is the creditor. This is clearly a federal matter.

Are you aware that Tinubu filed a lawsuit against the order freezing his accounts even after discussing with the FBI?

Are you aware that Tinubu dragged this case for over a year before agreeing to forfeiture?

Finally do you think this matter is about a conviction? Nehi. There's more in the constitution about this. This is why i believe APC hasn't responded with a counter yet even though they claim that their toddlers can win this case.

This is all very fine but Tinubu wasn’t personally convicted. It was a federal civil forfeiture.

AntiChristian:


The bone of contention that needs to be determined is if FCT can be regarded as a state in the constitution!
And Section 299 has been interpreted by the AI.

And that has been interpreted in reality too.

Background
In 1979, Shehu Shagari was ruled to have won the Election and this was confirmed by the supreme court despite needing 25% of votes in Lagos (then FCT) to have won!

Awolowo won Lagos (as FCT then) with 82.3% votes while Shagari had a meagre 7.18%.

Lagos was counted with other states!
2/3 of 19 = 12.66

Awolowo wanted an approximation to 13 so that Shagari would not win!
But Shagari won since he had that 12.66!

And there are other related court rulings that supports that chat gpt conclusion!

This is actually interesting. A difference is that Lagos was a State and had a gubernatorial election which Jakande won. I see the angle you’re looking at though. I don’t think Shagari should have been declared winner. He had 25% in 12.66 states which was less than 2/3 of the states.

Sec 299: "The Provision of this constitution shall apply to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as if it were one of the states of the Federation"

To be declared winner of a presidential election, you must win 25% of total votes in 2/3 of states and the FCT

Taking Sec 299 into consideration, if the framers of the constitution intended for the FCT NOT to be a separate and additional requirement, won’t the requirement simply state “ To be declared winner of a presidential election, you must win 25% of total votes in 2/3 of states”. Sec 299 would then imply that FCT is among the “2/3 of states” because the FCT should be treated “as if it were one of the states of the Federation”. Since “and the FCT” is included in the text, it suggests 25% in the FCT is also required when it comes to presidential elections.

burp18:
Isn't it ironic. LP claims it won the elections and the president elect should be disqualified. LP came behind PDP. If LP claims it won the election where does that leave Atiku who came second. We joke too much in this country 😁

The court would decide. In 2019, Ihedioha was 1st, Nwosu 2nd, and Ararume 3rd in Imo’s gubernatorial election. Guess who is governor today? 4th place Hope Uzodinma.

Throwback:
We can learn to be fiercely territorial and clannish.

If we learn fully, then a Yoruba would start winning SouthWest states at 95% of votes cast just like the Igbo.

I believe it could have happened if APC fully supported Osinbajo. Tinubu unfortunately had some question marks if we want to be honest.

burp18:
I'm actually based in Kaduna. I agree with you on the process and events that marred the elections. There are still improvements to be made. But to a very large extent, the will of the people reflected. [b]Politicians used whatever tools they had at their disposal to win the election. [/b]Many bought votes with money. LP should quit crying the elections were rigged because some politicians had more influence than them.

Fair. Perhaps crying is a tool LP and PDP want to use. We’ve had courts overturn elections in the past. Let’s see.

NothingDoMe:
I disagree with your submission. Forfeiture was not civil. It was stated clearly that narcotics was involved. Even Festus keyamo didn't say it was civil so how did you come about civil case?

Proceeds of Narcotics however it was a civil forfeiture. Keyamo also said it was civil and I agree with him. Tinubu wasn’t the defendant but rather the funds in his accounts were. In my opinion, Tinubu was involved but it’s only an opinion not a conviction. It’s not enough to disqualify him. I have a hard time believing someone as educated as Tinubu was in 93 innocently had drug money in his account. I read the complaint…but sometimes people get away with things.

burp18:
You're hilarious. Almost 20 political parties contested in the just concluded election and somehow.LP believes it eas the only one that was rigged out? What about the states APC lost? What about the states PDP lost? Any you lose. You're automatically rigged out. The ones you win are free and fair? Because you think everyone likes your candidate ?😄

Are you following the gubernatorial elections in Kano and Kaduna? You know PDP filed a petition too. You know other parties said the overall election wasn’t credible. I’m not even arguing that LP won. I’m just saying your position is faulty. Every honest Nigerian knows the elections weren’t credible. That doesn’t mean LP won. Stop being overly obsessed with LP.

TooNoisy:
Just observing how the Gubernatorial elections have played out, one can see that the region where rigging took place the most was the South East.

All the South West results have been declared.
All the South South results have been declared.
All the North Central results have been declared.
6 of the 7 results in the NW have been declared. Kebbi outstanding.
5 of the 6 results in the NE have been declared. Adamawa outstanding.
Elections took place in just 3 states in the SE and only one was duly declared. The other two were not declared for four days. Enugu has still not been declared. And the two parties accusing each other of rigging are LP and PDP.

It is obvious the presidential elections in the SE were rigged for Peter Obi. The biggest rigging takes place in the SE as we can see from the gubernatorial elections and the main riggers in that zone is LP.

How many of these states had LP governors? You think a “structureless” party like LP can easily rig presidential election where they have no governors? What could also be happening is that non-LP governors are fighting and rigging against the LP goodwill. It’s not proof that the biggest rigging in the presidential election was in the SE. SE hasn’t tasted presidency since Azikiwe’s ceremonial position. Obi went against a Northerner when we are currently under a Northern president. He also went against a Southwesterner whose mental and physical health was questioned (He literally licked a microphone). It doesn’t take rocket science to see why the SE voted overwhelmingly for Obi.

burp18:
Peter Obi won 10 states in the presidential but managed to win 1 state in the gubernatorial elections. What this means is that he rigged in the presidential election. Where are all those people that voted LP during the presidential election?

Can’t we also argue that the gubernatorial elections were rigged in the stages Obi won? It’s a poor argument anyways because Peter Obi is not running for Governor in the states he won. The people’s opinion of the candidates matter.

Raf4:


Based on your myopic submission, even if there's going to be a rerun, Tinubu will be the sole candidate because neither atiku nor obi qualified for a rerun. Non of them got the highest votes and non of them got at 25% in 24 states of the federation. So, both atiku and obi didn't get the minimum requirement.

Not how it works sir.

Jones4190:
Igbos are not yet ready to hold the office of the Senate president, they still need time to build bridges, flyovers and even culverts and also reach out to other ethnic groups in the country. I see nothing wrong with a Muslim senate president, by the way, politics is not the reasons why Jesus come

How can someone not be ready because of ethnicity? It sounds more tribalistic than logical.

dustmalik:

First of all, you can't subpoena an American security agency in Nigeria.

Secondly, the said crime, even if it was true, it's been more than 20 years. In Nigeria, an indicted or convicted person can run for office after a period of 10 years outside of his serving term. Tinubu was never convicted nor indicted.

Obi is wasting his time and resources

I believe drug related convictions are a permanent bar on eligibility. However it’s irrelevant here unless they can prove Tinubu was actually convicted. I’m not sure he was convicted.

JovialJune:


Atiku got 25% in 2/3 states, so how exactly will Atiku be jumped to declare Obi as president?

Ok. I thought he got it in 21 states which is less than 2/3.🤝🏾

JovialJune:
You are also forgetting one thing, if Tinubu is disqualified, the second runner up will be the President which is Atiku, so how exactly will Obi become President pls?

Did Atiku get 25% in 2/3 states? If he didn’t then wouldn’t it be a runoff?

kozmokaz:


Do you know just one testimony from the DEA nullifies Tinubu candidacy ?

Do you know what they would or can testify to if they do testify?
Do you know if Tinubu was convicted, an informant or even indicted? We really don’t know.

The argument that the President is the Governor of the FCT supports a finding that 25% of the FCT must also be won.

Haha. Buhari should hurry up and go. He’s either aloof or wicked.

I may have missed it but was INEC able to explain why some poling unit results were uploaded according to plan while others were not?

Hope this helps.

N3TRAL:


I'm telling you what the law that I've read and actually practice is and you're quoting what you got from Twitter for me.

The INEC chairman has the power to overrule or change the guidelines . It's his inherent power.

Let me give you a practical example. Paragraph 2 of the INEC guidelines states that Governorship elections must be conducted two weeks after Presidential Elections, when INEC couldn't reconfigure the BVAS before time, they gave a directive that it should be postponed.

They have the right to shut down the Portal because of millions of cyber attacks they claimed happened and proceed with the best mode of collation as long as the electoral act does not specify.

See screenshot from INEC guidelines about the date of conducting Governorship Elections.

I agree with you. As long as it isn’t an abuse of discretion. They need to show that they had to shut down the portal without notice and that it wasn’t arbitrarily or maliciously shut down.

julaion:
why did you jump no 1

Because in my opinion, #1 is fine. Being objective doesn’t mean I’m attacking Mr. Obi. I just feel they shouldn’t seek relief based on very rebuttable allegations but bulletproof allegations 💪🏾. #2 is actually factual but APC cured it. Anyways they are SANS. They know better

julaion:
LAY MAN BREAKDOWN OF OBI CASE AGAINST TINUBU AND INEC.

1 Obi say Tinubu “was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in case no:93C 4483″ between the United States of America and Bola Tinubu. Meaning Tinubu was an alleged DRUG BARON. Anybody wey don pay fine to any govt for drug business no suppose contest for any election for Nigeria .( I go explain this more in my bullet) .

2.Obi say Tinubu no suppose to appoint Shettima as Vice because at the time wey he appointed Shettima , say the guy was still senator contesting for Borno and also at the same time contesting for Vice President. It was against the electoral act. Yet, INEC approve am . He submit evidence to prove am. So therefore Tinubu elections is void.

3. Obi say , them say for the electoral act dem go use BVAS upload and submit result , dem no do am . So therefore the election should be canceled.

4.Obi say the electoral act say to be declared President you must win at least two third of all state and and Abuja but say he no win am and even in Abuja he no score the 25% so no be for am.

5. Obi say the forensic evidence wey he get show say votes wey INEC record many pass the accreditation wey the Obi forensic do and that they have the evidence to prove it on so many states and if na so, the electoral law say the whole election would be canceled.

6. And say votes wey dem count for Tinubu for Rivers, Lagos,Taraba, Benue,Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno , Kaduna, Plateau, and other states of the Federation na Obi votes them give Tinubu and their forensic prove am.

7.Say INEC violate their own law by announcing Tinubu as President when them never upload result finish for their Portal. So it has to be canceled.

8. Obi say the law wey set up INEC say if Pooling agent see any wahala and report am , INEC suppose stop the election or cancel am until they address the issue of agents. But say dem no do am even as many polling agents and LP agent raised alarm of politicians forcing them to write fake results. Say he get plenty evidence to show.

©julaion

#2 was violated but cured on time.

One thing that is certain is that INEC disenfranchised Nigerians by not creating a means for everyone to collect their PVC after making diligent efforts. That’s very problematic IMO. (We saw videos of missing PVCs).

I also have a friend who went on IG live. INEC never arrived at her polling unit in Rivers. I wonder where else that happened. The process was very unfair.

[url] https://www.justice.gov/afms/types-federal-forfeiture[/url]