Tinubu holds dual citizenship of Nigeria, Guinea, Atiku tells court

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said President-elect Bola Tinubu has dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea.

Atiku, in a fresh court filing at the Presidential Electoral Petition Tribunal (PEPC) in Abuja, also accused Mr. Tinubu of failing to disclose facts about his constitutional qualifications in the EC9 form submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). legal provisions

In his response filed by his senior counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, Atiku said his identity, age, state of origin and educational qualifications were never in dispute.

He insisted that Mr. Tinubu was constitutionally disqualified from contesting for the presidency.

The PDP presidential candidate, among others, alleged that Tinubu was unfit to lead Nigeria because he was indicted for drug-related offenses in the United States of America and had to forfeit the sum of $460,000 as a compromise deal.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Atiku said in the same document the president-elect was burdened by identity and drug scandals.

According to him, Mr. Tinubu has dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea as he voluntarily acquired citizenship of the Republic of Guinea.

Reacting to Mr. Tinubu’s response, who described Atiku as a serial election loser, the former Vice President said Tinubu was a giant in kidnapping, drug-related crimes and non-disclosure of his dual nationality to INEC.

“The comparison of the second respondent (Tinubu) with the first applicant (Atiku) who achieved the distinguished position of Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years is totally baseless,” he said.

Atiku said he was opposing the declaration of Tinubu as president-elect because Tinubu and the APC did not win the majority of legal votes cast in the February 25 presidential election.

He said Mr. Tinubu failed part of the constitutional requirements because he did not get 25 percent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as required by the constitution.

He argued that the return of Mr. Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election was unfair, illegal and invalid because Tinubu did not meet the constitutional requirements.

Atiku said Tinubu deliberately chose not to address key points in the petition and chose extraneous facts, contradictory, evasive, speculative and vague assertions.

The former president of Guinea, Alpha Condé, He reportedly confirmed that Mr. Tinubu was given what he described as an “ambassador apart”.

He said the honor was a reward for the roles played by Mr. Tinubu in the 2015 elections. It is not clear whether the status equates to citizenship of the country.

Mr Condé, who is now in exile in Turkey following a 2021 coup that ousted him, made the comments after a photo biodata page of a Guinean passport showing Mr Tinubu’s picture and details trending online.

At the same time, another viral video clip showed Mr. Tinubu meeting the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the African Union (AU) Ambassador to Guinea for Agenda 2063, Ousmane Yara, in a helicopter owned by the Guinean government. .

The helicopter video, which Mr Yara told Sun Newspaper, was recorded when Mr Tinubu was a guest of Guinea’s ousted president during the country’s independence anniversary celebrations in 2016.

(IN)