The All Progressive Congress (APC) has filed a motion at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja challenging the Nigerian citizenship of the Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.In a petition filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, the Party faulted the candidacy of Atiku in the election, saying that Atiku is a Cameroonian and not a Nigerian citizen.
The APC said that contrary to his assertion in his petition, he (Atiku) had no right to be voted for as a candidate in the election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on February 23, 2019.
The party averred that by reason of Atiku not having qualified to contest the election, all votes purportedly cast for him and the PDP in the February 23 election are wasted votes.
The APC said that the petition by Atiku against President Muhammadu Buhari, its own candidate in the March Presidential election, should therefore be dismissed for lacking in merit.
The petition read: “The 11.1 million votes recorded in favor of the two petitioners should be voided and considered a waste by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
“The Party averred that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa, in Northern Cameroon and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon and not a Nigerian by birth.
“Prior to 1919, Cameroon was being administered by Germany and that following the defeat of Germany in World War 1, which end d in 1918, Cameroon became part of a League of Nations mandate territory which consisted of French Cameroon and British Cameroon in 1919.
“In 1961, a plebiscite was held in British Cameroon to determine whether the people preferred to stay in Cameroon or align with Nigeria.
“While Northern Cameroon preferred a union with Nigeria, the Southern Cameroon chose alignment with the mother country and that it was as a result of the plebiscite that Northern Cameroon, which included Adamawa, became a part of Nigeria.”
APC also faulted the allegations of non-compliance with relevant laws made by Atiku and PDP
The party, therefore, prayed the tribunal to uphold the victory of its candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who polled 15,191,347 to emerge winner and his subsequent declaration as president-elect by INEC while also urging that the petition against the victory should be dismissed for having no cause of action.
