The All Progressive Congress has told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the poll, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is not a Nigerian and therefore not qualified to have stood for the election.
The party, whose candidate Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of February 23, 2019 Presidential Election, said that Abubakar was born a Cameroonian, not Nigerian.
Abubakar was born on Nov. 25, 1946 in Jada, then part of Northern Cameroon.
The party said that based on this premise, Atiku was not qualified to have contested the presidential election.
The Party claimed that Atiku was a Cameroonian and not a Nigerian citizen at birth, and his petition against President Buhari, its own candidate, should be dismissed for lacking in merit.
In a reply to the petition of Atiku and the PDP praying for their declaration as the lawful winner of the presidential poll, the APC said that the 11.1 million votes recorded in favor of the two petitioners should be voided and considered a waste by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The APC’s reply to the petition, filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi faulted the candidacy of Atiku in the election insisting that as a Cameroonian, he ought not to have taken part in the presidential poll of Nigeria in the first instance.
The Party averred that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946, in Jada, Adamawa, in Northern Cameroon and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon and not a Nigerian by birth.
Going down memory lane, APC claimed that prior to 1919, Cameroon was being administered by Germany and that following the defeat of Germany in World War 1, which end d in 1918, Cameroon became part of a League of Nations mandate territory which consisted of French Cameroon and British Cameroon in 1919.
APC further argued that in 1961, a plebiscite was held in British Cameroon to determine whether the people preferred to stay in Cameroon or align with Nigeria.
According to the party, while Northern Cameroon preferred a union with Nigeria, Southern Cameroon chose alignment with the mother country and that it was as a result of the plebiscite that Northern Cameroon, which included Adamawa, became a part of Nigeria.
APC, therefore, said that contrary to the assertion of Atiku in his petition, he (Atiku) had no right to be voted for as a candidate in the election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on February 23, 2019.
The party averred that by reason of Atiku not having qualified to contest the election, all votes purportedly cast for him and the PDP in the February 23 election are wasted votes.
APC also faulted the allegations of non-compliance with relevant laws made by Atiku and PDP, adding that their failure to make specific references to the compliance issue has a fatal effect on the petition and therefore the petition did not have enough material to justify the ground of any relief sought.
Atiku had in his petition with reference number: CA/PEPC/002/2019 faulted the conduct of the February 23 Presidential Election on the ground of non-compliance with relevant electoral laws and other malpractices such as intimidation of voters, the unlawful arrest of his sympathizers and the harassment by soldiers and other law enforcement of those wishing to vote for him.
The former Vice President and PDP claimed to have scored the majority of the lawful votes in the election and prayed the tribunal to declare them as winners of the election.
In the alternative, he prayed for an order for the cancellation of the election and another order by the tribunal directing INEC to conduct a fresh election that would conform with relevant laws.
No date has, however, been fixed for hearing of the petition.
