The claim made by All Progressives Congress (APC) which told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja on Friday that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is “a non-Nigerian by birth” has been waved aside by the man in question.
Speaking through his media aide, Paul Ibe, in an interview with the Sun yesterday, Atiku said it is an insult to Nigerians and the office of Vice President, which he occupied for eight years.
According to him, “ The claim by the APC is idiotic and it is ridiculous. Atiku Abubakar is a former Vice President of Nigeria. Are they telling us that a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not a Nigerian?
“That is disrespectful to Nigerians and for the office he has held, which other people will hold and will continue to hold. Everything must not be on the alter of politics,“ he added.
The APC in the petition filed before the tribunal argued that by virtue of not being a Nigerian by birth, Atiku, a former Vice President, was not qualified to contest the last presidential election.
It contended that by Section 131(a) of the Constitution, a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest the office of the President of the country.
The party noted that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, now Adamawa State, then in Northern Cameroon, “and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon.”
Recall that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had made similar claims in recent past.
