PEPC Verdict: FCT Should Have 3 Senators Like Other States – Olajengbesi

• Human rights lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi calls for Abuja, the nation’s capital, to have three Senators, citing equality with other states
• He argues that the FCT should produce three Senators and a governor, as it was determined to have no special status

Following the decision of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), which stated that places such as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were on equal footing with other States of the Federation, an Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, has stated that the nation’s capital Territory, Abuja, should be allowed to fully enjoy the benefits of a state status and produce three Senators instead of the current situation in which the FCT produces only one Senator.

Olajengbesi, the Managing Partner of Abuja-based law firm Law Corridor, said in a statement on Tuesday that it would be tantamount to double standards and grave injustice for Abuja to produce one Senator while the Tribunal upheld the arguments of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 25% FCT votes.

According to Section 48 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended), there shall be three senators from each of the 36 states of the Federation and one from the FCT,” Olajengbesi stated. However, in light of the Tribunal’s decision that the FCT has no special status and is equal to every state in Nigeria, this section of the constitution should be amended to allow Abuja indigenes to produce three senators and a governor, just like other states. Anything less is an injustice and a double standard.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, in which INEC declared the APC’s Bola Tinubu the winner, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party petitioned the Tribunal to overturn the APC candidate’s declaration as President.

Obi and his party argued in their petition that Tinubu should be disqualified as President because he did not receive 25% of the votes cast in the FCT.

However, in a 12-hour marathon ruling on September 6, 2023, the Tribunal’s five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the petition alleging that winning at least 25% of the votes cast in the FCT is a requirement for presidential candidates to be declared winners of the election and that the FCT does not have a special status and is thus equal to every other state in Nigeria.

According to the justice, Section 134 (1) and (2) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) require a presidential candidate to obtain or score a majority of votes cast in a presidential election involving two or more candidates, as well as at least 25% in two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, to be declared duly elected as President of Nigeria.