Awolowo loses Presidential Appeal | Richard Akinjide versus Abraham Adesanya | September 1979 скачать в хорошем качестве

Awolowo loses Presidential Appeal | Richard Akinjide versus Abraham Adesanya | September 1979

Wednesday, September 12th 1979. Footage of the aftermath of a judgement of the Nigerian Federal Court of Appeal in Lagos. The court has ruled against an action brought by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in regard to the declaration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari as the winner of the Presidential election. Speaking outside the court were Richard Akinjide, the counsel for Shagari, the leader of the Nigerian People's Party (NPN), and Abraham Adesanya, the counsel for Awolowo. Source: Reuters News Archive. Note: The appeal centred on Awolowo's contetion that although Shagari had won more votes (5,688,857 votes to 4,916,651 votes), Shagari had nonetheless fallen short of the second condition which was that the winner must have one-quarter of the votes in two-thirds of the 19 states of the federation. The provision read “…not less than one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two thirds of all the (19) states within the federation.” Shagari had 25% or one-quarter of the votes in 12 states, but did not reach the 25% threshold in Kano State where he polled 243,423 votes; the equivalent of 19.4% of the 1,220,763 votes cast in total in the state. According to Awolowo's team, the phrase should have been interpreted to mean that a candidate must score 25% of the votes in at least 13 out of the then 19 states in Nigeria. Akinjide argued that the two-thirds of 19 should be 12-2/3 and not 13. He did this by dividing Kano, the 13th state, into three and the votes cast in two-thirds of the state. Fractionalising Kano thus gave Shagari the constitutionally required votes. Akijinde's creative respose earned him the sobriqet "Akinjide Onisiro"; which in the Yoruba language means "Akinjide the mathematician". See: Awolowo Accuses the NPN, FEDECO & the Judiciary of "fouling the electoral process" | December 1979    • Awolowo Accuses the NPN, FEDECO & the Judi...   Abraham Adesanya can be seen in this newsreel: Anthony Enahoro Appeal Case at Nigerian Supreme Court | Had Been Convicted of Treason | Feb. 1965    • Anthony Enahoro Appeal Case at Nigerian Su...