Opinion by ChidiOdinkalu: How insecurity could decide who becomes Nigeria’s next president via thecableng
in December 1983, Muhammadu Buhari, then a Major-General in the Nigerian Army, overthrew the system. Soldiers thereafter ran the barn for another 14 and a half years.
n 1979, soldiers supervised the election. To govern it, they promulgated the Electoral Decree, No. 73 of 1977, which required that the winner would be the candidate who scored the highest votes and also achieved a minimum of 25% of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states in Nigeria. There were 19 States then; 10 in the north and nine in the south. Two-thirds of nineteen was not a whole number.
The failure to advert to this piece of elementary arithmetic would prove consequential. By the time the voting was done, it turned out that the candidate with the highest number of votes, Shehu Shagari, of the National Party of Nigeria , scored 25% in 12 of Nigeria’s 19 states and in the 13th state he scored about 20%. The Federal Electoral Commission , nevertheless, declared him the winner. Two-thirds of 19 is 12-two-thirds.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who came second in the ballot on the ticket of the Unity Party of Nigeria , challenged the declared outcome before the election petition tribunal. If he succeeded, the country would have conducted a second round to decide the winner. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The military had committed to leaving power on October 1, 1979.
While the standard has been constant, the circumstances to which it is applied have varied. In 2007, for instance, the issue was whether an election organized without serialized ballot papers to control for the contamination of ballots nevertheless met the standard. The supreme court held that
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Winners emerge in Indo-Nigeria badminton friendship games | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsWinners have emerged in the children and ladies doubles of the 2023 Indo-Nigeria Badminton Friendship Games held at the weekend at the Ikoyi club, Lagos.
Read more »
Obi pledges to end economic wastages in Nigeria | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsIrked by the nation’s economic misfortune, the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, has pledged that his administration would end wastages, and recoup loss monies, if elected president on February 25.
Read more »
Five common errors about Nigeria (I) | TheCableNigeria is a rich country. You have heard this a million times, haven’t you? What exactly do people mean by “Nigeria is rich”? They believe we have enough money to
Read more »
US: No preferred candidate in Nigeria's elections | sponsors of violence will be denied visa | TheCableThe United States government says that it would deny visas to anyone who encourages electoral violence in the 2023 general election in Nigeria.
Read more »
DisCos blame low power supply in parts of Nigeria on ‘insufficient load allocation’ | TheCableElectricity distribution companies (DisCos) in the country say customers will experience a reduction in power supply for an indefinite period. This is contained in separate statements issued on Saturday by
Read more »
INTERVIEW: Nigeria must review power distribution in politics to avoid destructive resentment, says Falola | TheCableToyin Falola, award-winning academic, speaks on turning 70, his experiences as a scholar, and issues around politics and education reform...
Read more »