Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, says president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should not have contested the 2023 presidential election due to his dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea.
Atiku made the claim in his response to Tinubu’s preliminary objection filed before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.
Reports that Tinubu allegedly obtained citizenship of Guinea shortly after he was declared the president-elect.
The allegation generated varied reactions on social media, with many arguing that having dual citizenship bars Tinubu from contesting elections in the country.
Tinubu’s relationship with Alpha Conde, the former president of Guinea, has also come under scrutiny.
On Wednesday, a Guinean ambassador to African Union for Agenda 2063, Ousmane Yara, said Tinubu was recognised by Conde as a special envoy.
OTHER ALLEGATIONS IN ATIKU’S PETITION
The PDP standard bearer also accused the president-elect of not disclosing facts of his constitutional qualifications in his Form EC9 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku, in the response filed by his lead counsel, Chris Uche, said Tinubu has “demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his state of origin, gender, actual name; certificates evidencing universities attended (Chicago State University)”.
He further averred that Tinubu is unfit to govern the country having been indicted for drug-related offences in the United States and made to forfeit a sum of $460,000 as a compromise agreement.
Atiku said Tinubu failed to secure 25 percent of the votes cast in the federal capital territory (FCT) as constitutionally required.
He argued that the return of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election was “undue, unlawful and invalid” because he did not meet the constitutional requirements.