Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu has been under fire from the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who says he is unsuitable to lead the country’s affairs.
Atiku acknowledged that despite his history of running for president since 1993, unlike Tinubu, he has “a drug-free record.” This, he said in a new lawsuit filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in Abuja.
“The 1st petitioner, unlike the 2nd respondent (Tinubu), has consistently been contesting presidential elections, given the 1st petitioner’s drug-free record, and has never had controversy surrounding his age, circumstances of his birth, state of origin, gender, educational qualification, health status, working career, and citizenship, all issues bordering on constitutional qualification to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Atiku added in his reply to Tinubu’s preliminary objection to his petition.
Recall that Tinubu had dubbed Atiku a “continuous serial loser” who had moved around political parties looking for power since 1993 in his response to a petition seeking to overturn his victory.
The President-elect stated that he will present evidence to the court at the petition hearing to demonstrate how Atiku being accepted as a candidate in the February 25 presidential election contributed to the “disintegration” of the opposition PDP.
According to him: “The 1st petitioner (Atiku) has been consistently contesting and losing successive presidential elections in Nigeria since 1993, whether at the party primary election level or at the general election; including 1993, when he lost the Social Democratic Party, SDP, primary election to the late Chief M.K.O Abiola; 2007, when he lost the presidential election to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; 2011, when he lost the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential primary election to President Goodluck Jonathan; 2015, when he lost the APC primary election to President Muhammadu Buhari; 2019, when he lost the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari; and now, 2023, when he has again, lost the presidential election to the respondent.
“Further to (iv) supra, it was/is not a surprise and/or not by accident that the electorate rejected the first petitioner at the polls of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023,” Atiku added.
In his response, the President-elect, according to Atiku, “demonstrated contradiction as to his true date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his state of origin, gender, and actual name; credentials indicating universities attended (Chicago State University).”
He said: “The purported degree certificate of the second respondent allegedly acquired at Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as “F” in the certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.
“The 2nd respondent did not disclose to the 1st respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The second respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports”.
Additionally, Tinubu “has a record of criminal forfeiture of the sum of $460,000.00 for the drug-related offence before the United States Judge, John A Nordberg in the 2nd Respondent’s First Heritage Account No. 263226700, being proceeds of narcotics-trafficking in violation of 18 USC 1956 and 1947 for an offence involving narcotics,” according to Atiku, who finished second in the presidential election on February 25.
Atiku claimed that the APC candidate “is constitutionally disabled from contesting for the post of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” and did not meet the requirements of the constitution.