Atiku is not a Nigerian, APC tells tribunal
Published: 13/Avr/2019
Source: Guardian (Abuja)
By Oludare Richards
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll, Atiku Abubakar, is not a Nigerian and therefore not qualified to have contested for the election.
The party claimed that the former Vice President is a Camerounian and not a Nigerian citizen and his petition against Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the APC, should be dismissed for lacking in merit. In a reply to the petition of Atiku and the PDP, which prayed for their declaration as the lawful winners of the presidential poll, the APC said that the 11.1 million votes recorded in favour of the two petitioners should be voided and considered a waste by the Tribunal.
The position of the APC filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), faulted the candidacy of Atiku in the election insisting that as a Camerounian, he ought not to have taken part in the presidential poll of Nigeria in the first instance.The party claimed that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa, in Northern Cameroun and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroun and not a Nigerian by birth.
The APC, in a historical analysis of the nationality controversy, claimed that prior to 1919, Cameroon was being administered by Germany and that following the defeat of Germany in World War 1, which ended in 1918, Cameroun became part of a League of Nations mandate territory which consisted of French Cameroun and British Cameroun in 1919. APC further argued that in 1961, a plebiscite was held in British Cameroon to determine whether the people preferred to stay in Cameroun or align with Nigeria.
Read further: https://guardian.ng/politics/atiku-is-not-a-nigerian-apc-tells-tribunal/