According to the Nigerian constition, for a person to win the Presidential election, he or she must get at least 25 percent of the vote in 24 out of the 36 States in the union. In addition to this, they must also win the popular vote.

Now, the question you might be asking is, how is this harmful to an Igbo bid for presidency?

Well, how is an Igbo, a group notorious for being Christian and relatively anti-North expected to win 25 percent in a couple of the Northern State? Out of the 36 States in Nigeria, 17 States are what would be called southern, and 19 are Northern (20 if you count Abuja). So, an Igbo man will have to win a landslide victory in all 17 States and then have a relative strong showing (over 25 percent of the vote) in 7 Northern States to win a Presidential election.

Note: Hausas will also face a similar up-hill battle but it would not be as tough when you take into account that the number of Northern States are superior Southern States.

The question is who actually goes to the polling station more in Nigeria?

Kazey, I won't be so sure about that. I actually believe that it would be a lot easier to convince Northerners to go and vote. Or, at the very least, it would be a lot easier to rigg in the north where a majority of the people can't read or write.

Rather its the illiterate that actually go to the polling station, which means that most of Nigerian votes come from the North especially from the village districts etc, The educated Nigerians rather seat at home and watch the result on tv.

kazey, I won't be suprised if the voter turn out from the Northern States in 2003 are not in line with the results from the 2006 census.