The Presidential Election Petitions sitting in Abuja has dismissed the petition of the presidential candidate for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, challenging the alleged dual citizenship of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu including a drug conviction against the latter.
In a judgment on the objections of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu’s grounds that the issues bordering on his non-qualification to contest the February 25 presidential election, Justice Moses Ugo held that the grounds were new issues.
According to a live report by Daily Trust, Ugo upheld the objections of the APC and Tinubu that Atiku and PDP could not smuggle new issues not pleaded in their petition on the grounds of non-qualification.
Atiku had in his reply to Tinubu submitted that he (Tinubu) was constitutionally disabled from contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he forfeited the sum of $460,000 in a compromise agreement for narcotics related crime (proceeds of crime) in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.
Atiku also claimed that Tinubu failed to disclose in his form EC9 that he holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea. The tribunal struck out the two allegations.
