25% Spread: Ihedioha’s Legal Albatross

Though it may not augur well with the majority of the Imo people, who generally perceive PDP’s victory as balm for their groans purportedly inflicted by the alleged ‘familiocracy’ of the Rochas' government. However, the reality of the matter as it concerns the electoral outcome of the just concluded gubernatorial election suggests that the process is yet to settle, that is if it going to be constitutionally looked at.

And this is one lacuna the major opposition may cling unto to balkanise the celebrated outcome.

Section 179 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), in providing the framework for the governorship process, stipulated that for a candidate to be declared as validly elected for the position of governor, the person must have a clear majority and must have at least 25% of the votes cast across two-third of the local governments. From the results reeled out by INEC, PDP’s Emeka Ihedioha garnered the highest numbers of votes cast, thus fulfilling the first and principal requirement. 

But did he meet the 25% spread in two-third of the local councils?

Imo state is constituted into 27 LGAs, and two-thirds of these is 18 LGAs. In the 2019 guber polls in the state, Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP scored the highest numbers of votes totalling 273,404. His closest rival in the race, Uche Nwosu of the AA, polled 190,346 votes. And whilst Emeka won 11 of the 27 LGAs, Nwosu had 8 to his credit. In further breakdown, now looking at LGA spread, while Emeka had the minimum required 25% in 13 of the entire LGAs, the candidate of the AA had just 8.

From the above revelation, it is very clear that Emeka’s premise to victory had only the advantage of simple majority but lacked the equally required constitutional mark of wider acceptance in spread. It could be surmised that whereas the two legs are required to walk the mandate of a governor, Emeka’s victory as governor-elect, for the moment, seems to stand on a lone leg.

It is to say that the wild jubilation, nursed all along and which busted with Professor Otonta’s declaration of the PDP candidate as the eventual winner after what was seen as a rigorous collation process, could be crushed, albeit momentarily. Yes, momentarily, for while INEC might have lost sight or deliberately forgot to take into cognisance a major fibre for legitimacy of an election, the scurrying eyes of the opposition might just lift it out.

Could there be a run-off as necessitated by the constitution, whose need just played out in the lag of spread? If constitutionally, yes. But only time would tell if the one leg would suffice this victory-walk and whether the discontented opposition would see it as a legal trap-on to challenge this celebrated relief.