Atiku Abubakar insists he's eligible to participate in the 2019 presidential election
*The former vice president said his father hailed from Sokoto state while his mother was from Jigawa
*The APC had claimed Atiku was not a Nigerian but originally from Cameroon
Atiku Abubakar who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that although he was born in present day Adamawa state, his father originally hailed from Sokoto.
Vanguard reports that Atiku gave this explanation through his lawyer to the election tribunal.
Atiku had challenged the result of the presidential election which was won by President Muhammadu Buhari and had filed a petition in court.
In response, the All Progressives Congress claimed Atiku was ineligible to contest in the election as he was from Jada in Adamawa state which was once part of southern Cameroon.
Atiku however said he was Nigerian by birth claiming his father, “Garba Atiku Abdulkadir was a Nigerian by birth who hailed from Wurmo in present day Sokoto state while the mother, Aisha Kande was also a Nigerian who hailed from Dutse in present day Jigawa State.”
His lawyers said: “The parents of the 1st Petitioner(Atiku) are both Fulani, a community/tribe indigenous to Nigeria.”
“The birth of the 1st Petitioner in Jada, in present day Adamawa State of Nigeria was occasioned by the movement of his paternal grandfather called Atiku who was an itinerant trader, from Wurmo in present day Sokoto State to Jada in the company of his friend, Ardo Usman.
“That in Jada, Atiku, the grandfather of the 1st Petitioner gave birth to Garba who in tum gave birth to the 1st Petitioner and named him after his own father Atiku.
“The 1st Petitioner’s mother, Aisha Kande was the grand-daughter of Inuwa Dutse who came to Jada as an itinerant trader too from Dutse in present day Jigawa State.
“That all averments concerning Germany, British Cameroons, League of Nations and Plebiscite are false and misleading in relation to the 1st Petitioner and therefore completely irrelevant more so that the 1st Petitioner is a Nigerian by birth within the contemplation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic ofNigeria, 1999 (as amended). Continue reading
No comments