The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has struck out the argument by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was not Nigerian by birth and, therefore, was not qualified to contest the last presidential election.
The tribunal, in its sixth ruling on Wednesday, said its power does not include determining the qualification of a petitioner in an election dispute.
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It said its powers was to determine whether a person elected to the Office of the President was validly elected and not to query the qualification of the petitioners to have contested the election, whose outcome was being queried.
The court said the APC ought to have filed a cross-petition if it sought to challenge the qualification of the 1st petitioner (Atiku) to have contested the election.
APC had alleged that records show Atiku “was born on November 26, 1946, in Jada Adamawa, in Northern Cameroon and was, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon.”
The party had also said: “His father was Garba Atiku Abdukadir who died in December 1957. Prior to 1919, Cameroon was being administered by Germany.
“But following the defeat of Germany in World War I which ended in 1918, Cameroon became a League of Nations mandate territory which was split into French Cameroons and British Cameroons in 1919.”
