The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has debunked notions that he is from Cameroon. He said he was born by Niger
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has debunked notions that he is from Cameroon. He said he was born by Nigerian parents and is therefore a citizen of Nigeria by birth who is qualified to contest the election of 23 February, 2019.
The ruling party, APC, in their submission to the election tribunal said that Atiku is from Cameroon and therefore not a citizen by birth who is qualified to contest for presidency. They had argued that Atiku was born in Jada in 1946, in present day Adamawa state, then part of Northern Cameroon.
According to his response to the All Progressives Congress filing before the Presidential election tribunal, Atiku said his father, Garba Atiku Abdulkadir was a Nigerian by birth who hailed from Wurmo in present day Sokoto State, while the mother, Aisha Kande was also a Nigerian hailed from Dutse in present day Jigawa State.
“The parents of the 1st Petitioner (Atiku) are both Fulani, a community/tribe indigenous to Nigeria. The birth of the 1st Petitioner in Jada, in present day Adamawa State of Nigeria was occasioned by the movement of his paternal grandfather called Atiku who was an itinerant trader, from Wurmo in present day Sokoto State to Jada in the company of his friend, Ardo Usman, his lawyers, an array of senior advocates said.
“That in Jada, Atiku, the grandfather of the 1st Petitioner gave birth to Garba who in tum gave birth to the 1st Petitioner and named him after his own father Atiku. The 1st Petitioner’s mother, Aisha Kande was the grand-daughter of Inuwa Dutse who came to Jada as an itinerant trader too from Dutse in present day Jigawa State.
“That all averments concerning Germany, British Cameroons, League of Nations and Plebiscite are false and misleading in relation to the 1st Petitioner and therefore completely irrelevant more so that the 1st Petitioner is a Nigerian by birth within the contemplation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic ofNigeria, 1999 (as amended). The averments in the aforesaid paragraphs are indeed fabricated, contrived, made in bad faith and designed to embarrass the 1st Petitioner.”
Abubakar said that the votes he secured in the presidential election were not wasted votes, adding that he got more votes than President Buhari. To buttress his Nigerian citizenship, Atiku listed his career path and political activities and the awards and honours that he had received. These included his being a civil servant in the Nigerian Customs Service for over 20 years, retiring as a Deputy Director; a politician for about 30 years, who in 1992 contested the Presidential Primaries under the platform of then Social Democratic Party (SDP) alongside the late Chief M.K.O Abiola and Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe.
He also mentioned his participation in the 1999 governorship election in Adamawa State in 1999, which he won and the presidential elections of 1999 and 2003, which he won as running mate to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mentioned also was his being a recipient of the National Honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) and holder of the traditional title of Turakin Adamawa from 1982 to 2017, when he was elevated to Wazirin Adamawa.
