- 25% requirement: No special status for FCT
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja, today, said the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, failed to prove that President Tinubu was convicted of drug-related charges in the United States of America.
PEPT has also declared that the Federal Capital Territory does not hold a higher status than other states in the country.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, the lead judge of the five-man panel declared this during the tribunal’s sitting on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, Section 134 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) stipulates that a presidential candidate must attain or score a majority of votes cast in a presidential election, where two or more candidates are involved, and at least 25% in two-thirds of the 36 States and FCT to meet the constitutional requirement to be declared as duly elected as President of Nigeria.
The five-man panel also ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners.
He said, “The petitioners failed to show evidence that the president was detained or convicted for any particular offence as alleged by the petitioners.”
The justice clarified that the fine imposed on Tinubu by a United States court was over a civil forfeiture proceeding.