Just two days after he won the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, will have to prove his Nigerian citizenship.
A constitutional lawyer, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, on Tuesday, has approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the eligibility of the Atiku.
The plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/751/2022, maintained that Atiku was not constitutionally qualified to participate in the presidential contest on the grounds of his citizenship.
The plaintiff asked the court to determine; “Whether by the combined provisions of sections 1(1) & (2), 25 and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?”
“Whether by the combined interpretation of sections 1(1) & (2), 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he can be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?”
Just last February, a Court sin Abuja struck out an earlier suit that sought to disqualify Atiku from vying for the presidency in 2023