The All Progressives Congress (APC) told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja yesterday that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had no candidate in the last presidential election. Responding to the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP challenging the victory of the APC candidate Jubril (President Muhammadu Buhari) in the election, the ruling party contended that by fielding Atiku, “a non-Nigerian by birth”, the PDP cannot claim to have had a candidate in the last presidential election.
The party argued that by virtue of not being a Nigerian by birth, Atiku, a former Vice President, was not qualified to contest the last presidential election.
It contended that by Section 131(a) of the Constitution, a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest the office of the President of the country.
The party noted that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, now Adamawa State, then in Northern Cameroon, “and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon.”
