Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the inclusion of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in section 134 of the constitution is as a 37th state in Nigeria.
Falana said this while fielding questions in an interview with host Seun on Channels TV on Sunday.
He reiterated his interpretation based on his previous comment on whether a candidate needs to get 25 percent of votes, including Abuja, to win the presidential seat.
He said, “I had expressed an opinion on section 134 of the constitution, that is on the 23rd of January this year, that is about a month before the presidential election. On that occasion, I expressed a legal opinion and that is why I was very hesitant to join the bad wagon when lawyers started giving political interpretation of that section.
“My position this year, and I think it was my respected colleague Olisah Agbakoba, that expressed concern and drew the attention of INEC to section 134 of the constitution, and that it might create some problem.
“On that occasion, through your medium, I did state that there is no electoral connect in Nigeria and the votes casts or recorded in any part are equal.
“Section 134 of the constitution, specifically, requires the winner of a presidential election to meet certain requirements, the first one is to score the majority of lawful votes and the second one is the territorial spread; 2/3 majority of the states and the Federal Capital Territory, and since the Federal Capital Territory has been interpreted to be the 37th state in Nigeria for the purpose of the constitution, I didn’t see any controversy at the material time and that was why I expressed my opinion.”
