Why Atiku Abubakar is not fit to be Nigeria President - AGF Abubakar Malami

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, has said in an affidavit in a Federal High Court in Abuja, that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is not fit to be the president of Nigeria.

The AGF stated this in support of a suit filed in court by Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa (EMA) in 2019, challenging the country of birth of the former Vice President.

The AGF while agreeing that Atiku Abubakar is not a Nigerian by birth, also said he is not fit to be president of Nigeria, stating that he was born in 1946 in Jeda - A town in Northern Cameroon, which at that time wasn't part of Nigeria, until the 1961 plebiscite, in which the town was merged into Nigeria.

While agreeing that Atiku Abubakar is a Nigerian Citizen, he however cited the provisions of the 1979 and 1999 constitutions in which he said the "reasoning of the lawmakers in ensuring that the persons to be the president of Nigeria is a citizen of Nigeria by birth is because such a person is the number one citizen and the image of the Nigerian state."

He said, "At best, the first defendant can only acquire Nigerian citizenship by the 1961 plebiscite. The citizenship qualifications under Section 26 and 27 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), by implication, has limited the first defendant’s privileges or rights and cannot be equal or proportional to the privileges of other citizens who acquire their citizenship status by birth.

"This would include the legal preclusion of the first defendant from contesting for the office of the President of Nigeria.

"if either his parents had become Nigerian citizen by virtue of Section 25(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which must be in compliance with Sections 26 and 27of the same constitution.

He therefore concluded that the former Vice President cannot contest election to the office of the Nigerian President.

It could be recalled that the suit was filed before the 2019 presidential elections.

The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, had fixed May 4 for the commencement of the proceedings.

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