The All Progressive Congress
(APC) and the winner of the February 23, 2019 Presidential Election, has filed
a motion at 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 claimed that the former
Vice President is a Cameroonian and not a Nigerian citizen and his petition
against President Muhammadu 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 relevance 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 party, therefore, prayed the
tribunal to uphold the victory of its candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who polled
15,191,347 to emerge the winner and his subsequent declaration as
president-elect by INEC while also urging that the petition against the victory
should be dismissed for having no cause of action.
Meanwhile, no date has been fixed
for the hearing of the petition.
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Ok na, Atiku better start readying to refund us all the monies he earned as VP for 8 years. Wahala dey oo
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