FACT CHECK!!! Can Dual Citizenship Disqualifies Bola Ahmed Tinubu As President-Elect Of Nigeria?–Following the viral report alleging that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, holds a Guinea Conakry passport and by so doing, holds a dual citizenship or nationality, NigeriaCheck Newspaper carried out a check on the position of the Nigerian Constitution on this, and discovered the following:
That the only place the Constitution, talks about forfeiture of citizenship or nationality, is in Chapter 3, Section 28, Sub-section 1, which says, “Subject to the other provisions of this section, a person shall forfeit forthwith his Nigerian citizenship if, not being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he acquires or retains the citizenship or nationality of a country, other than Nigeria, of which he is not a citizen by birth.
This means a Nigerian citizen by birth is allowed by this provision of the Constitution to acquire or retain the citizenship or nationality of another country, other than Nigeria without any consequences.
This also means that the forfeiture only applies to persons, who are not Nigerian citizens by birth, and still went on to hold the citizenship or nationality of another country other than Nigeria.
In other words, this indicates that Nigeria allows dual nationality or citizenship for most persons, but does not allow persons, who have been naturalised in another country to naturalise as Nigerians.
It also follows that nationals of origin in Nigeria or another country are allowed to naturalise without renouncing other nationality.
The other issue that NigeriaCheck Newspaper considered during its search is voluntary renounciation of one’s citizenship or nationality for another.
The question here, is whether again the President-elect had at any point in the past voluntarily renounced his Nigerian citizenship to attain that of another?
During our search, we discovered that Chapter 3, Section 29, Sub-section 1 of the Constitution says; “Any citizen of Nigeria of full age, who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.”
Further, Sub-section 2 says, “The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person, who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria.”
This shows that there is voluntary and involuntary citizenship; and voluntary naturalization in another country is considered as “giving up” of one’s previous citizenship or implicit renunciation. And practically, such an automatic renunciation cannot officially take place until the authorities of the original country are informed about the naturalization. It follows that to voluntarily become a citizenship of another country, one must at a point voluntarily renounced his country’s citizenship or nationality to attain that of another.
In the case of the President-elect there are no records or references of registration/declaration, as stipulated by the Constitution, to that effect.
By this, one now understands why the word “voluntarily” was included in Question No. 10, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s form, which reads, “Have you voluntarily in the past changed nationality?” And equally explains why the President-elect answered in the negative with a capital, No.
If this is understood, the question Nigerians should be concerned about now is, if the Nigeria Constitution allows public office holders or those in the government to hold dual citizenship or nationality?
On this, NigeriaCheck News gathered that the Constitution, Chapter 3, which talks mainly about Citizenship, was silent on whether members of the government or public office holders, such as the President, Governor, or State and National Assembly members can hold a dual nationality.
It follows that one is at liberty to assert that if a Nigerian citizen by birth is allowed by the provision of Chapter 3, Section 28, Subsection 1 of the Constitution to acquire or retain the citizenship or nationality of another country, other than Nigeria without any consequences, it means that any public office holder or member of the government, who is a Nigerian citizen by birth, is automatically allowed to hold a dual citizenship or nationality since there is no caveat in the constitution that says otherwise.
However, NigeriaCheck Newspaper believes that since the Constitution is not specific on whether a public office holder or a member of the government can hold a dual citizenship or nationality, Nigerians will have to seek the interpretation of a law Court on this particular section of the constitution.
But for the meantime, the assertion that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is automatically disqualified for holding a Guinea Conakry passport is untrue and misleading.
CREDIT: NIGERIACHECK
