Tribunal Strikes Out Atiku’s Claim Of Guinean Citizenship, Drug Case Against Tinubu

• Kazeem Badmus

The Presidential Election Petitions Court has dismissed allegations by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, that President Bola Tinubu has dual citizenship and was convicted for drug.

Giving judgment on the objections of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu grounds that the issues bordering on his non-qualification to contest the February 25 presidential election, Justice Moses Ugo held that the grounds were new issues.

He upheld the objections of the APC and Tinubu, saying that the Atiku and PDP could not smuggle new issues not pleaded in their petition on the grounds of non-qualification.

Atiku had in his reply to Tinubu challenging submitted that he was constitutionally disabled from contesting for the office of President of Federal Republic of Nigeria because he forfeited the sum of $460,000 in a compromise agreement for narcotics related crime (proceeds of crime) in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

Atiku also claimed that Tinubu failed to disclose in his form EC9 that he holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea.