A Nigerian lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, has filed a lawsuit at the federal high court in Abuja to disqualify former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from contesting the 2023 presidency, days after he won the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential ticket.
The lawyer asserts that Atiku is not constitutionally qualified to participate in the presidential poll in the lawsuit which has the PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and attorney-general of the federation (AGF) listed as the second, third, and fourth defendants.
“Whether by the combined provisions of sections 1(1) & (2), 25 and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Whether by the combined interpretation of sections 1(1) & (2), 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he can be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd defendants to contest for the office of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria,” Jideobi asks the court to decide.
The related lawsuit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa in 2019, was dismissed by Justice Inyang Ekwo on February 21, 2022, on grounds of lacking quality.
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