Constitutional Crisis In Nigeria: What Is Two-Thirds of 19 States?
In 1979, there was a presidential election in Nigeria.
The law required the winner to score a simple majority and at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the states.
There were 19 states ( 2/3 of 19 = 12.66 or 12 2/3).
Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the NPN had a simple majority of votes and 25% of the votes in 12 states.
The 13th state in contention was Kano State: He scored 243,423 votes, or 19.94% (less than 25 per cent) of a total of 1,220,763 votes cast in the state.
The electoral body declared him the winner and this sparked a constitutional crisis: What is two-thirds of 19 states?
The other candidates: Obafemi Awolowo – UPN, Nnamdi Azikiwe – NPP, Aminu Kano – PRP, Waziri Ibrahim – GNPP, argued that the law was not fulfilled until they go to the electoral college for a run-off.
A mathematician like Emeritus Professor Chike Obi said the problem with the electoral body is a problem of Arithmetic: There is no such thing as two-thirds of a state (or a person).
The fraction must be rounded-up.
Mathematicians were told it is a matter of Law, not Mathematics, and the case went from Election Tribunal to the Supreme Court.
Nigeria’s Supreme Court, in a case it said is not to be cited, gave it to Shagari – maybe to allow the military hand-over power as planned within the time frame and save the country.
The judgement was on 26 September, 1979, while the legal date to swear-in the new President was October 1, 1979.
Alhaji Shagari was sworn-in as President.
The law-makers amended the law afterwards, rounding-up the figures whenever the number of states required for an election to be decided ends in a fraction.
It cannot be rounded-down, even if less than half, or else the law is not satisfied.
Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi from Baghdad, Iran, lived 780 – 850 AD.
About 825 AD, he discovered Al-Jabr or Algebra, the simplest branch of Mathematics after Arithmetic.
On a journey with his camel, he met three wearied brothers by an oasis.
Their late father left 17 camels for them. The camels are to be shared among the three children:
Eldest son has half of them;
Second son has one-third, and
Youngest son has one-ninth.
The problem is that the camels are 17 in number and 17 is a prime number.
“We cannot divide the number of camels by 2, 3 or 9 without killing them,” they told him.
He offered his camel to make the total number of camels 18, which is divisible by 2, 3 and 9 without remainder.
Eldest son got half or had 9;
Second son got one-third or 6, and
Youngest son got one-ninth or 2.
One camel was left (9 + 6 + 2 = 17), Al-Khwarizmi’s camel, which he took back and continued his journey.
A child ordered a nine-inch pizza.
The waiter brought him two five-inch pizzas because the nine-inch pizza has finished and told him to have the extra one-inch for free.
The child sought the advice of the tortoise and declined the offer.
They went into the Arithmetic:
All the pizzas are circular in shape and have same thickness (depth).
Area of a circle is π r² (Pi multiplied by square of the radius; radius is half of diameter).
π = 3.1415926 (the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle).
Area of Nine-inch pizza = 63.62 sq in (or 3.1415926 x 4.5 inches x 4.5 inches)
Five-inch pizza area = 19.63 sq in
Two five-inch pizzas will have an area of 39.26 sq in (or double the area of one five-inch pizza).
“Even three five-inch pizzas will not be enough,” he said.
Three five-inch pizzas will be 58.89 sq in
In the end, he was given four five-inch pizzas (78.52 sq in) for the price of one nine-inch pizza (63.62 sq in).
An ancient legend about a king, a boy, rice and the chessboard: A king loves to play chess in India.
A little boy serving him made a little request from him as his salary.
For the first day, place one grain on the first square; the following day, two on the second, four on the third, and so on.
The king was surprised that the boy made such a small demand and accepted.
The sum of grains on all 64 squares is: 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 …
This type of sequence is called a geometric sequence and it grows exponentially.
The formula for the nth term of a geometric progression with first term as “a” and common ratio “r” is: an=arn–1.
On the twentieth square, the king had to put 1,000,000 grains of rice.
On the 64th square of the chessboard alone, there would be 263 = 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 grains.
The total rice in all the 64 squares will be 1.4 trillion metric tonnes.
This can cover the whole of his kingdom with a metre thick layer of rice.
The king was unable to fulfill his promise.
FUNNY QUOTES
Einstein Meets Hollywood Star, Charlie Chaplin
2 February, 1931, in Universal Studios, Los Angeles, California.
Albert Einstein: “What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You don’t say a word, yet the world understands you.”
Charlie Chaplin: “It’s true. But your fame is even greater: the world admires you, when nobody understands what you say.”
Thomas Edison in 1902 said:
“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”
STEPHEN HAWKING
The great theoretical physicist, once said “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.”
“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.”
“There is no God. No one directs the Universe.”
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN OLIVER, HOST OF “LAST WEEK TONIGHT” on 15 June, 2014.
Oliver: “Is there something you want people to understand about your work (bearing in mind that most people will never understand anything about your work): What is it?
Hawking: “Imaginary time. People think it’s something you have in dreams or when you’re against a deadline. But it’s a well-defined concept. Imaginary time is like another direction in space. It’s one bit of my work that science fiction writers have not used because they don’t understand it.”
Oliver: “You said today, that you believe there could be an infinite number of parallel universes. Does that mean that there could be a universe out there in which I’m smarter than you?”
Hawking: “Yes. And also a universe you’re funny.”
Oliver: “If time travel were possible, would you go back in time and refuse to do this interview?”
Hawking: “Yes.”
Oliver: “You truly are an incredibly smart man. Thanks for your time.”
photo credit: wikipedia, cnn, bbc
