THE spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign, Festus Keyamo says the decision to test the matter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s citizenship in court was jointly reached by more than 18 senior advocates of Nigeria representing President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC at the Election Petition Tribunal.
The PDP presidential candidate in the March 9 election had petitioned the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, alleging that the presidential election was manipulated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in favour of president Buhari.
But Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), insisted that though Atiku might have served as Nigerian vice president for eight years, he may still not be a Nigerian.
“That is irrelevant. Did you have access to security reports then; did the court look at that issue at that time? He asked while speaking on Channels Television Sunday night.
“We are talking of qualifications to be President of Nigeria, not qualifications to be a Customs officer.”
Keyamo posited that the fact that matter of Atiku’s citizenship has never been tested in court before does not provide a platform for someone to keep doing “something that is wrong”.
He noted that the issue of citizenship was just one of the six grounds raised to challenge the petition filed by the PDP at the Tribunal.
Keyamo charged “those who are informed” to go and read thoroughly Section 131 in conjunction with Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“I can tell you for free that since 1960, this is the most useless petition that has been presented before any court of law, or any Tribunal to adjudicate,” he said.