The All Progressive Congress (APC) has filed a motion at the
Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja stating that the
presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, is not a Nigerian.
The Party in its petition filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi
faulted the candidacy of Atiku in the election, adding that Atiku is a
Cameroonian and not a Nigerian citizen, Channels Tv reports.
APC, hence stated that the former Vice President’s petition against
President Muhammadu Buhari, its own candidate, should 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 ended 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, therefore, said that contrary to the assertion of Atiku 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.
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.