The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has rejected the petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi against President Bola Tinubu.
The petition contended that winning 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was a prerequisite to securing victory in the presidential election.
The court, in its ruling, emphasized that Abuja should be treated similarly to other states, dismissing the notion that FCT residents possessed any unique privileges, as argued by the petitioners. Therefore, the court struck down the petition.
Court clarifies uniform 25% voting requirement in FCT and other states
The Labour Party and Peter Obi’s legal challenge centered on the interpretation of electoral laws regarding the FCT’s voting requirements.
They argued that securing 25% of the votes in the FCT was mandatory for a presidential candidate to be declared the winner.
However, the court’s verdict clarified that this requirement applied uniformly across all states and regions, without any preferential treatment for the FCT.
In summary, the PEPC’s decision was to uphold the standard voting regulations and treat the FCT like any other state in the context of electoral requirements, leading to the dismissal of the LP and Peter Obi’s petition against President Bola Tinubu.