₦airaland Forum

How Obi should avert Tinubu's May 29 swearing in ceremony

Swearing in Tinubu on May 29 will be outright illegality in the face of Nigeria's constitution. To prevent this, Peter Obi should approach court of law and secure an injunction to halt May 29 handling over to Tinubu because he failed to meet the constitutional requirement (of mandatory 25% of votes in Abuja) for the position of a president.

To be declared Presidential winner, a candidate must secure at least 1/4th (25%) of votes cast in 2/3rd of the entire 36 States of Nigeria (that is in 24 states). Also, the candidate must also secure not less than 25% of the votes cast at the FCT.

The literal interpretation of this section is that a candidate must secure 1/4th (25%) of votes cast in 2/3rd of the entire 36 States of Nigeria and 1/4th (25%) of votes cast in FCT. This provision is so clear, direct and unambiguous, that you don’t need a Professor of Constitutional Law to comprehend. The use of the word “and” had been held by the Supreme Court to be conjunctive, which implies that the conditions in Section 134(2)(b) are conjunctive and mandatory.

JuicyStar:
After INEC has declared a winner whether rightly of wrongly, it is only the tribunal that can nullify or affirm such declaration. How will people be saying he can’t be sworn in and at the same time are in court to reclaim their alleged stolen mandate?

Massiveglory:
So you mean mahood yakubu is greater than the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria?