SPECIAL FEATURE:RICHARD AKINJIDE AND THE TWELVE TWO-THIRDS STORY; Setting the records straight.
RICHARD AKINJIDE AND THE TWELVE TWO-THIRDS STORY
Setting the
records straight
The
1979 Presidential election was held on August 11,1979. Alhaji Sheu Shagari of
the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) polled the highest number of votes cast
with a score of 5,688,657. Chief Obafemi
Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) scored 4,916,651.
After Shagari
was declared president-elect on 16 August 1979, Awolowo went to court to
contest that the NPN candidate did not meet the requirements stipulated by the
electoral decree of 1977 that governed the presidential election of 1979.
The provision
stipulates that in order to be elected to office, a presidential candidate must
have scored at least one quarter of the total votes cast in at least two-thirds
of the states in Nigeria, and the highest number of the votes cast. Nigeria had
19 states at the time.
In Richard Akinjide’s
legal interpretation, the successful candidate, apart from scoring the highest
votes, should also score 25% of the votes cast in 12 states and 25% of 2/3
of the 13th state.
In that Election
Late Alhaji Shehu Shagari scored 25% in 12
states but scored 19% in Kano state.
By Chief Akinjide's
submission, Alhaji Shagari needed just 16% of the votes cast in Kano state,
being the 13th state.
Late Chief Obafemi
Awolowo represented by late Chief Abraham Adesanya and later by
himself demurred that a state is an entity that cannot be split, for whatever
reason - be it electoral or otherwise. The kernel of his submission was that
Alhaji Shehu Shagari needed to win 25% of the votes cast in 13 states
outrightly.
It was a contest of
two political and legal giants.
On the professional
level, a lawyer is rated by the number of landmark legal victories he has
achieved in his career. Both Richard Akinjide and Abraham Adesanya (and later
Obafemi Awolowo) were great legal luminaries. Each wanted to add a professional
feather to his cap. So both Akinjide and Awolowo looked for a way to outwit the
other in yhe field of law. It was a contest between “two learned friends”.
Now to the political
side of the contest. Chief Richard Akinjide was a leader in the National Party
of Nigeria. He was a member of the National Executive of NPN as the Legal
Adviser.
The party chose him as their counsel in the legal tussle. The fate of the party and her presidential candidate depended on his legal prowess. He had to prove he was worth the trust his party had in him. It was a call to duty. Any man in his shoes would put in his best to win the case.
So on September 26, 1979, Richard Osuolale Akinjide stood before a panel
of seven supreme court justices and convinced them that two-thirds of 19 states
was ”12 two-thirds”, and not 13. As the counsel to Shagari whose victory was
being challenged by Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Akinjide’s
arithmetic put a seal to the former president’s victory.
Akinjide’s NPN had won the case at all three levels of Justice; from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court.
Akinjide had to win the case for his party and he propounded that
ingenious theory which was widely applauded.
He also had to protect his job as a legal practitioner.
That was about 44
years ago.
Those who were grown
up then, and now at least in their sixties should know the true story. Those who
were not yet born then should read this account of the 1979 story.
I then wonder where
the story that Richard Akinjide “prevented” a fell
FACTS ARE ALWAYS
SACRED
Records must be put
straight. Those who have listened to falsehood and misrepresentations now know
the truth.
 |
| Femi Ladapo (Femolad) writes from Ibadan, Nigeria |
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