I never understood the much difference between the use of two important conjunctions i.e. AND & OR until I reflected on what I have been teaching my students in Logic, Probability and Concord classes. Today I want to use my knowledge of Logic to prove that it is mandatory for a presidential candidate to win one-quarter of votes in FCT before he/she could be declared winner. So as to make my explanation short, simple and straightforward, I would be using Probability and Concord for further explanation at a later time.
Firstly, what does the constitution says:
There are two (2) conditions for determining a winner of a presidential election:
1. A presidential candidate must secure the highest number of votes cast at the election
2. He/she must secure not less than 25% of votes cast in at least two-thirds of all the States of the federation and FCT.
The main cause of argument is at the bolded (and).
In Logical Reasoning, AND & OR are not synonymous. These two words have distinct meaning. While AND is a CONJUNCTION, OR is a DISJUNCTION.
In set notation the intersection of two substatements represent the conjunction of every statement. A conjunction is true only if both of the substatements are true.
True + True = True
True + False = False
False +True = False
False + False = False
Also, in set notation the union of two substatements represent the disnjunction of every substatement. A disnjunction is true if either of its substatements is true or if they are both true (it is only false if they are both false.
True + True = True
True + False = True
False + True = True
False + False = False
My thought
The second electoral criteria above consists of two substatements separated by “and.” For the whole statement to be true (fulfilled), the two substatements must be fulfilled.
I think those who drafted the constitution intended to use OR but mistakenly use AND out of ignorance. Their motive was to use OR instead of AND after all the people living in Abuja are not more special than the people living in other parts of the country. So the only condition by which Tinubu can win this argument in court is if the supreme court judges decide to help him out by looking at “technicalities” instead of what Nigeria Constitution actually says.
In conclusion, to be declared Presidential winner, a candidate must secure at least 1/4th (25%) of votes cast in 2/3rd of the entire 36 States of Nigeria (that is in 24 states). Also, the candidate must also secure not less than 25% of the votes cast at the FCT.
