Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23, 2019, elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said that although he was born in present day Adamawa state, his father originally hailed from Sokoto State.
Atiku gave this explanation through his lawyer to the election tribunal.
The former vice president had challenged the result of the presidential election which was won by President Muhammadu Buhari and had filed a petition in court.
In response, the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed Atiku was ineligible to contest in the election as he was from Jada in Adamawa State which was once part of southern Cameroon.
Atiku, however, said he was Nigerian by birth claiming his father, Garba Atiku Abdulkadir was a Nigerian by birth who hailed from Wurmo in present day Sokoto State while the mother, Aisha Kande was also a Nigerian who hailed from Dutse in present day Jigawa State.
His lawyers had said: “The parents of the 1st Petitioner (Atiku) are both Fulani, a community/tribe indigenous to Nigeria.
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“The birth of the 1st Petitioner in Jada, in present day Adamawa State of Nigeria was occasioned by the movement of his paternal grandfather called Atiku who was an itinerant trader, from Wurmo in present day Sokoto State to Jada in the company of his friend, Ardo Usman.
“That in Jada, Atiku, the grandfather of the 1st Petitioner gave birth to Garba who in turn gave birth to the 1st Petitioner and named him after his own father Atiku.
“The 1st Petitioner’s mother, Aisha Kande was the grand-daughter of Inuwa Dutse who came to Jada as an itinerant trader too from Dutse in present day Jigawa State. “That all averments concerning Germany, British Cameroons, League of Nations and Plebiscite are false and misleading in relation to the 1st Petitioner and therefore completely irrelevant more so that the 1st Petitioner is a Nigerian by birth within the contemplation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“The averments in the aforesaid paragraphs are indeed fabricated, contrived, made in bad faith and designed to embarrass the 1st Petitioner.”
Atiku also listed his political growth and the elections he had participated in as evidence as his eligibility to contest for presidency. “In 2014, the 1st Petitioner and the 2nd Respondent contested the Presidential Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the 3rd Respondent for the 2015 Presidential Elections,” his lawyers said.