APC to tribunal: Atiku unqualified to be president… he’s not Nigerian by birth

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not a Nigerian by birth.

The ruling party made the claim in its response to the petition  Atiku and the PDP filed before the presidential election petition tribunal in Abuja.

Atiku is challenging the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the February 23 presidential election.

Lateef Fagbemi, counsel to APC, argued that the former vice president was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa state, which was then in Northern Cameroon; hence, he’s a citizen of Cameroon.

He said since Atiku is not a Nigerian by birth, he was not qualified to have contested for the election.

Fagbemi further argued that section 131(a) of the constitution stated that a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest as president of the country.

The APC accused the PDP of presenting a non-citizen as a candidate for the office of the president.

Fagbemi asked the tribunal to declare the 11.1million votes polled by Atiku and the PDP as wasted votes.

The party asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lack of competence.