The Supreme Court has jettisoned an aspect of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which states that for a person to be declared a president during the general elections, he must garner up to 25% of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. In the same vein the Court has s dealt a blow on the Electoral Act which stipulates that the transmission of results to the IRev must be compulsory for it to be accepted.

While delivering judgment on the appeals of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi against the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal judgment upholding the election of President Bola Tinubu in Abuja today, the judges of the Apex court said that Abuja is never conferred with a special status above any other place and that non transmission of election results to the iRev does not render those results unacceptable.

It would be recalled that the PEPT had in its ruling said that getting 25% in the FCT was not was not mandatory as well as non transmission of results electronically.

The presiding justice of the panel, John Okoro, asked, “Are you saying if someone scores 25% votes in 30 states but not in Abuja, he should not be president? Is that how you interpret the law?

“That is not the law. Supreme Court agrees with the Court of Appeal,” he added.

On the electronic transmission of results he said: “When IReV fails, it does not stop the collation of the results. It deprives people of viewing results. The nonfunction will affect the trust of the electorates in the election.

“Unavailability of IReV cannot be a ground for the election to be nullified.

“The failure did not affect the outcome of the election. The issue is resolved against the appellants. “

The judgment is still on going as at the time of writing this report.

Details later…

Source: Drumnewsonline