Mixed Reactions As APC Says Atiku Not A Nigerian

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed that former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, is not a Nigerian by birth.

The ruling APC argued that by virtue of his not being a Nigerian by birth, Atiku was not qualified to have contested the last presidential election.

It accused the PDP of fielding a non-Nigerian as its candidate in the last election and faulted the party’s claim of presenting a candidate for the election.

The APC contended that by Section 131(a) of the Constitution, a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest for the office of the President of the country.

The ruling party noted that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946, in, Jada, now Adamawa State, then in Northern Cameroon, “and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon.”

APC made the argument in its reply to the petition filed by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP before the presidential election petition tribunal in Abuja.

The party faulted the competence of the petition and prayed the tribunal to dismiss it for being incompetent.

INEC had, on February 27, 2019, declared the APC alongside its candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, winner of the election with 15,191,847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku, whom it said polled 11,262,978 votes.

Twitter Reactions:

@UrbanRadio945 apc claim that atiku is not a Nigerian is a joke taking to far, and I ask the tribunal to ask apc to apologize to him for such hate speech.#ptp

— Ibiam (@Ibiam17) April 13, 2019

#ptp @urbanradio945 what's the connection between election rigging and atiku not being a Nigerian? atiku's lawyers know what to do else they should seek my advice.. this APC sef

— shai (@iam_shaii) April 13, 2019

Them keyamo and oda apc legal team at tribunal atiku is not a nigerian cant challenge buhari the sundani 😂😂😂😂apc why codeine at work everyday pic.twitter.com/T5KSERgNbG

— Nathan Taina (@excellentnat246) April 13, 2019

What a funny country 😂😂😂😂
So ATIKu was not a Nigerian, the person that was VP for 8 years 🤔 had turn to be Cameroonian.
Even if ATIKu wasn't a Nigerian by birth, has lived 4 15+ years to be a Nigerian by naturalization https://t.co/uUpIHLXcjM

— engine boi👷🔴 (@engr_minjbir) April 13, 2019

If APC with their arrays of Lawyers can say Atiku isn't a Nigerian,then it means Atiku has a strong case in the tribunal. All these "Atiku not a Nigerian" is a diversionary measure.

— Uncle Kehinde Adegboye (@UAdegboye) April 13, 2019

Lawyer or Comedian? A Vice @NGRPresident for 8 years is not a Nigerian?
APC shouldn't join the silly antics of questioning the Nationality of a Nigerian for political reasons, leave that to bigots. Not funny@atiku not Nigerian by birth, APC tells tribunal https://t.co/StogAWcrxU

— Kayode Ogundamisi (@ogundamisi) April 12, 2019