President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), alleging that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is not a Nigerian, Igbere TV reports.
Igbere TV reports that the PDP and Atiku are challenging the declaration of Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Feb. 23 presidential election.
The request of the APC and Buhari were contained in their final addresses to be adopted on August 23, which was made available to newsmen on Sunday at a press briefing in Abuja, with Igbere TV in attendance.
In the final address, the ruling party described Atiku’s address that urged the Tribunal to sack Buhari and affirm him (Atiku) president, as a “wild goose chase prayer’’.
The APC alleged that PDP erroneously allowed a candidate who was not a Nigerian by birth to contest the highest position, adding that such was an adventure that violated the provision of the Constitution.
The president and his party, therefore, prayed the tribunal to invoke Section 131 (a) of the Constitution to dismiss the petition.
Igbere TV reports that section 131 (a) of the Nigerian Constitution strictly holds that a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to qualify to contest the Office of the President.
They noted that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, a former Adamawa Province of Northern Cameroon before a plebiscite was conducted in 1961 that now made the enclave part of Nigeria.
The parties, therefore, alleged that Abubakar was not qualified to enter the contest as the constitution forbade him from canvassing for votes to become a president.
“We pray that the tribunal will see this constitutional reason and go ahead to uphold the election of the second respondent (Buhari) forthwith,’’ they prayed.
