September 6, (THEWILL) – The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed the claim by Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that President Bola Tinubu was not qualified to contest the 2023 presidential election because he had dual citizenship.
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had told the Court that Tinubu failed to disclose in his form EC9 that he holds a dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea.
He claimed that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the 2023 presidential election, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea.
But in a ruling on Wednesday, one of the 5-member of the panel of Justices of the Court, Justice Moses Ugo, while delivering judgement following objections raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu concerning Atiku’s claims, declared that the grounds of Atiku’s allegations were considered new issues, and, therefore, could not be accepted as part of the petition.
The objections raised by the APC and Tinubu were upheld, as they argued that Atiku and the PDP had introduced new issues not previously pleaded in their petition regarding non-qualification.
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