On February 25th, Nigerians went out in their numbers to exercise their franchise by voting for presidential and National Assembly candidates of their choice.
This Saturday, March 18th, Nigerians in 28 out of 36 Nigerian states will again head to 176,974 polling units to elect their next governors.
Bayelsa, Imo, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Osun and Kogi states will not be having a gubernatorial election this Saturday but will hold theirs at a later date.
Of the 28 states, a total number of 18 political parties are fielding candidates for the election which will conclude the 2023 general election.
Nairametrics have put together a summary of some relevant laws applicable to the governorship election in Nigeria.
Gubernatorial elections and laws applicable to it
The three laws that govern elections in Nigeria are the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 and The Revised INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2023.
Section 176 of the 1999 constitution establishes the office of a governor. The section provides that “There shall be for each State of the Federation a Governor and the governor shall be the Chief Executive of that state.”
As stipulated by the constitution, Governors have two-term limits and currently, Nigeria has 18 incumbent governors that are not eligible for re-election.
These governors are term-limited and cannot seek re-election for a third term because they have governed for 4 years and have been re-elected for another 4 years.
Going by the provision of the constitution, a Governor is not allowed to occupy the office for more than two terms, that is, eight years cumulative of four years each.
The 2023 governorship election was initially slated to hold on March 11 but was rescheduled as a result of a ruling by the court of appeal in Abuja on March 8.
The appellate court granted INEC the right to reconfigure the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine which INEC said will need five working days to reconfigure BVAS.
In Nigeria, the process called ‘election’ is characterised by many processes and governed by relevant laws. Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution clearly states the requirement that qualifies one to contest for the office of the Governor of a state.
The section states that, to qualify, “ A person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth, Must have attained the age of thirty-five years, must be a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
A Governor is the chief executive of a state who oversees the operations of the state he is governing. Section 179 of the constitution speaks on Single Candidate and Two Or More Candidates
Section 179 (2) states that a Candidates contesting election to governorship positions shall be deemed to have been duly elected where he has the highest number of votes cast and not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.
Section 179 (2) states this
- (2) A candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where there being two or more candidates
- (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and
- (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.
According to subsection 3, Where the above condition has not been met, the law stipulates that another election shall be held between the candidate who secured the highest number of votes and the candidate who secured a majority of votes in the highest number of local government areas in the State,
(3) states that “ default of a candidate duly elected in accordance with (2) of this section there shall be a second election in accordance with subsection (4) of this section at which the only candidates shall be
- (a) the candidate who secured the highest number of votes cast at the election; and
- (b) one among the remaining candidates who secured a majority of votes in the highest number of local government areas in the State, so however that where there is more than one candidate with a majority of votes in the highest number of local government areas, the candidate among them with the next highest total of votes cast at the election shall be the second candidate.
According to subsection 4, Where the condition in (3) has not been met, INEC shall hold another election within seven days between the candidate with the highest number of the vote and the candidate with not less than one-quarter of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.
(4) states that “In default of a candidate duly elected under subsection (2) of this section, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall within seven days of the result of the election held under that subsection, arrange for an election between the two candidates and a candidate at such election shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the office of Governor of a State if –
- (a) he has a majority of the votes cast at the election; and
- (b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.
In Subsection 5, Another election is again required if the conditions in subsection 4 are still not met.
(5) states that “ In default of a candidate duly elected under subsection (4) of this section, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall within seven days of the result of the election held under that subsection, arrange for another election between the two candidates to which that sub-paragraph relates and a candidate at such election shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the office of governor of a State if he has a majority of the votes cast at the election.”
What you should know
- Section 182 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 speaks on the disqualification of a Governor.
- In Section 183 of the Constitution, a Governor is not allowed to take other jobs. It states that “The governor shall not, during the period when he holds office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsoever.
- Section 180 of the constitution speaks on a Governor’s Tenure in office and
- Section 181 of the Constitution speaks on the Death, of a Governor before the oath of office
