The Independent National Electoral Commission has defended its decision to declare Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
INEC explained that a candidate does not need to secure 25% of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to win a Presidential election in the country.
This has been a point of contention for some political parties especially the Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party who lost the election, as they have argued that the FCT should be accorded special status in the constitution.
However, INEC has dismissed these claims, stating that the FCT has no special constitutional status over and above the other 36 states of the Federation.
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Furthermore, INEC has asserted that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, validly won the election, and that he met all the legal requirements to be declared the winner.
The commission pointed out that Tinubu scored 25% of the valid votes cast in 29 states of the Federation, which is the constitutional requirement for winning a Presidential election in Nigeria.
These states include Ekiti, Kwara, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Yobe, Lagos, Gombe, Adamawa, Katsina, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi, Bauchi, Plateau, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto, Taraba, Borno and Rivers.
However, INEC dismissed the petitions of two other candidates who have challenged the declaration of Tinubu as the winner.
The commission argued that the petition filed by the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi is incompetent.
Similarly, INEC stated that the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, did not meet the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the election.
Atiku and Obi are both in court to challenge the declaration of Tinubu as the winner, but INEC has urged the tribunal to throw away their petitions.
