Group Tasks Atiku to Clear His Citizenship Question Before Accusing Tinubu
Yusuf Ebiti A rights group, The Progressive Counsel (TPC), has decried ongoing moves by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to dig
A rights group, The Progressive Counsel (TPC), has criticized Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Vice President, for focusing on an alleged drug conviction against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The group has urged Atiku to first resolve his own citizenship question before attacking Tinubu.
In a statement titled "Atiku Must Face the Constitutional Mirror," the TPC argued that Section 131 of the Constitution requires a presidential candidate to be a Nigerian citizen by birth, not by later incorporation. The group traced Atiku's roots to Jada, then part of British Cameroons, which only joined Nigeria after the 1961 plebiscite.
The TPC noted that a legal suit regarding Atiku's citizenship was dismissed on procedural grounds. The group emphasized that justice should be a two-way street, and if Tinubu's past can be investigated, so should Atiku's. The TPC warned that Nigeria cannot afford a 2027 election that devolves into a permanent courthouse campaign, and that litigation should not replace political persuasion.
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