By NewsBits
As the petitions before the Presidential Election Petition Court advances to the concluding stage and all parties making different demands, Dr. Sam Amadi has attempted to answer one of the questions in the mind of Nigerians.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM are demanding for the disqualification of Tinubu for not being eligible for the contest while Tinubu on the other hand, is arguing that Peter Obi isn’t eligible to be part of a rerun if that’s the PEPC calls for such.
Dr. Amadi, the Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts (ASSPT) in a series of tweets said Obi is eligible for a rerun. His tweets reads: If Tinubu is not disqualified as prayed by the APM’s very strong petition and the tribunal holds no one validly won the election and orders a runoff, who will participate in the rerun? It is not who you think?
Section 134(3) provides the answer:
1. The candidates who got the highest number of votes in the election; and
2. The candidate who has MAJORITY of votes in the HIGHEST number of states
NB: Not the candidate who won more states or got 25% in the highest number of state.
What is the legal definition of “MAJORITY as specified in the constitution?
Merriam Webster defines it as “a number or quantity greater than half of a total”
Collins Dictionary:
“A number of voters …constituting more than half of the total number”
Cambridge Dictionary:
“More than half of a total number of amount, the larger part of something”
The Britannica Dictionary:
“a number of votes that is more than half of the total number”
‘Majority of votes’ does not mean ‘highest number of votes”. If you win a state with 45% you don’t have majority.
Black Law Dictionary is clear, “when there are more than two competitors for the same office, the person who receives the greatest number of votes has a plurality, but he has not a majority unless he receives a greater number of votes”
You must have more than 50%. So, who is in?
No matter the scenario, that’s whether Tinubu is disqualified or not. If there is a runoff, @PeterObi will be one of the two because he scores MAJORITY of votes in the highest number of states of the Federation.
