Court strikes out suit challenging Atiku’s eligibility to run for president

A federal high court in Abuja has struck out a suit challenging the citizenship of Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president.

The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/177, challenged Atiku’s eligibility to run for president on the premise that he is not a Nigerian citizen by birth.

The Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa, the plaintiff, had filed the suit in 2019 and challenged Atiku’s eligibility to contest for president.

Nigeria’s constitution stipulates that one must be a citizen by birth to become the country’s president.

The group joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), as co-defendants in the suit.

The plaintiff had told the court that considering the provisions of sections 25 (1) & (2) and 131(a) of the constitution and the circumstances surrounding his birth, the former vice-president cannot contest for the top office.

Malami, in an affidavit to support the suit, had said Atiku is not a Nigerian citizen by birth and therefore, not eligible to run for president in Nigeria.

However, in the judgment delivered on Monday, Inyang Ekwo, the judge, dismissed the suit for lacking merit.

Ekwo described the plaintiff as a “busy body”, who had no locus standi to query the citizenship of the former vice-president.

The judge held that the NGO, having been registered under Company and Allied Matters Act with and special functions, cannot jump into public interest litigation that is not part of its objectives.

He cautioned NGOs to refrain from filing frivolous applications targeted at harassing politically-exposed Nigerians.

He concluded that since the plaintiff was bereft of locus standi, the court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the case.