‘Deliberate falsehood’ — media office says Hamzat didn’t renounce Nigerian citizenship

The media office of Obafemi Hamzat has described the claim that the Lagos deputy governor renounced his Nigerian citizenship as “misleading and inaccurate”.

During the Lagos governorship election petition tribunal proceeding on Thursday, Olubusayo Fasidi, an immigration lawyer in the United States, claimed that Hamzat took an oath of allegiance in the US to renounce his Nigerian citizenship.

But in a statement on Saturday, Hamzat’s media office said the reports circulating are not the true reflections of the proceedings that took place at the tribunal.

The media office said the witness tendered two documents —  a blank form of application for US naturalisation and a blank oath of US allegiance document — tagged forms 8CFR/337 and N400 respectively which were admitted and marked as exhibits.

“When the witness was confronted with the fact that the only two documents, she was basing her claims on, were merely downloaded blank documents, the witness stated that she had downloaded the blank documents from the official website of the US Embassy,” the statement reads.

“The witness was thus unable to produce the actual documents, the specific jurisdiction of the United States and the particular date when Dr Hamzat applied for naturalisation or took the purported oath of allegiance.

“She equally admitted that she had not attended the ceremony admitting Dr Hamzat as a citizen of the United States of America.

“During her cross-examination by counsel to the 4th respondent (APC), the witness admitted to the fact that the American constitution recognizes dual citizenship with particular reference to the 14th amendment to the constitution of the United States ratified on July 9, 1868.

“The witness was challenged further that the documents she tendered support the process of application for naturalisation which ultimately culminates in the issuance of an American passport and nothing more.

“The witness in reaction to additional questions confirmed that she did not need to obtain a Nigerian visiting visa because she entered the country with her Nigerian passport.

“With respect to the question whether the witness was aware that Dr Hamzat fully disclosed the details of his American citizenship in the Form EC9 submitted to INEC, the witness answered in the affirmative.

“When the witness was again asked whether she had ever sighted the oath of allegiance of US citizenship form of the 3rd respondent, the witness responded in the affirmative.

“Following from the above, there is nowhere in the verifiable record of proceedings of the Lagos state governorship election petition tribunal of 21st of June 2023, when the evidence of one Miss Olubusayo Fasidi, a US immigration lawyer, was taken to support the misleading online reports that the incumbent deputy governor of Lagos state has renounced his Nigerian citizenship.”

Hamzat’s media office advised the public to disregard “the deliberate falsehood”, saying the testimony of the witness is under serious challenge.

“The testimony of the witness in question is under serious challenge and in its final judgment, the tribunal will decide whether her testimony is admissible, given that she did not file a witness statement on oath and the self-contradiction of still using a Nigerian passport whilst claiming to have renounced Nigerian citizenship,” the statement added.