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Atiku Replies Tinubu, Says I’m Drug-Free, No Dual Citizenship Scandals

Barely 32 days to the inauguration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has accused him to be unfit to contest for the office of the President.

Atiku stated this on Wednesday while replying to the preliminary objections to his petition challenging the result of the February 25 presidential election that declared Tinubu the winner of the poll before the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal.

Speaking at the Tribunal, Atiku maintained that unlike Tinubu, his true identity, age, state of origin and educational qualifications have never been in dispute.

According to him, he has been able to run for the office of the President of Nigeria since 1993 without any controversy because unlike his main rival Tinubu, he is unencumbered by drugs and identity scandals.

Tinubu in a reply asked the tribunal to dismiss Atiku’s petition, contending that he has been losing successfully the presidential election since 1993 and had no right whatsoever to return as a winner of the election.

“Further to (iv) supra, it was/is not a surprise and/or not by accident that the electorate rejected the 1st petitioner (Atiku) at the polls of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023,” Tinubu profess.

In the filed lead by counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), Atiku stood to his stand that the announcement of Tinubu as President-elect cannot stand because he holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, “having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea”.

Similarly, Atiku summons Tinubu for not disclosing facts of his constitutional qualifications in his Form EC9 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), contrary to the provisions of the law.

Atiku reported that Tinubu is unfit to lead Nigeria having been indicted for drug-related offences in the United States of America and made to forfeit a sum of $460,000 as a compromise agreement.

Justifying his request for the abolition of the declaration of Tinubu as President-elect, Atiku said Tinubu and APC never won a majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, adding that he failed to meet the constitutional requirement of securing 25% of the votes cast in the FCT.

Atiku opposed Tinubu’s submission that the PDP is in abuse of court process by maintaining two processes in respect of the February 25 election, following a suit of February 28 by six PDP governors of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Sokoto states challenging the failure of INEC to transmit the results of the elections through the BVAS and IREV as leaving the substance to dwell on extraneous facts, contradictory, evasive, speculative and vague issues.

He said the six states’ suit, which has been discontinued, and his petition are not the same.

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