Reactions As Tinubu’s Lawyer Says FCT Like 37th State & Any Other Interpretation Will Lead To Chaos

Channels Television reports that the counsel to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the February 25, 2023, presidential election, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in his final written address at Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), said the FCT is like Nigeria’s 37th state, arguing that any other interpretation will lead to chaos and anarchy in the country.

The revered legal luminary said:

“May we draw the attention of the court to the fact that there is no punctuation (comma) in the entire section 134(2)(b) of the constitution, particularly, immediately after the ‘States’ and the succeeding ‘and’ connecting the Federal Capital Territory with the States. In essence, the reading of the subsection has to be conjunctive and not disjunctive, as the Constitution clearly makes it so. Pressed further, by this constitutional imperative, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is taken ‘as if’ it is the 37th State, under and by virtue of Section 299 of the Constitution.

“With much respect, any other interpretation different from this will lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy, and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.”

He also insisted that his client secured 25% of the lawful votes cast in the FCT.

Tinubu, through his lawyers, was countering the argument of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, that he did not get the statutory 25% of the votes in FCT and, therefore, should not have been declared the winner of the election.

Olanipekun, who described the arguments and testimonies of witnesses of the complainants as “frivolous, bogus, and based on hearsay”, urged the court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit, substance, and bona fide.

From the foregoing arguments, it is clear that the controversy over the interpretation of the provision of the Nigerian Constitution regarding the 25% of total votes in two-thirds of the States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as a mandatory requirement for a presidential candidate to be declared president, would continue to rage perhaps until the Supreme gives a final interpretation. 

But the majority of Nigerians who reacted to the story posted by Channels Television its Twitter handle disagreed with the eminent lawyer. Some even argued that he is threatening anarchy in an attempt to arm-twist the tribunal to rule in favour of his client. They insisted that there will be no anarchy over the tribunal giving the Constitution the right interpretation.

Read some selected reactions here:

What is your take on the issue?

Ifyafrica (
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