Tinubu slams Atiku for using expired Guinean Passport as evidence of dual citizenship claim
The legal team of President Bola Tinubu has dismissed the claim by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, that Tinubu holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, and presented an alleged expired Guinean passport as evidence to back his claim.
P)resident Tinubu’s lawyers, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja that the document tendered by Atiku was a “guesswork” aimed at embarrassing Tinubu and invalidating his electoral victory.
Recall that the PDP legal team, led by Chris Uche SAN had, on June 25 presented its 27th witness, Barr. Mike Enahoro Ebah (PW27), to prove that Tinubu was a dual citizen of Nigeria and Guinea prior to the polls, among other allegations.
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Some of the documents Atiku tendered include Tinubu’s certificate of service from Mobil Nigeria Plc, alleged extract of his Guinean passport as well as particulars submitted to INEC when he ran as Lagos State governor.
But in their final written address, Olanipekun argued that the Guinean passport which the PDP witness claimed to have downloaded from the internet, purportedly representing the data page of Tinubu’s Guinean passport, shows that the passport expired in 2020.
“It is all a guesswork, aimed at embarrassing the respondent (Tinubu),” he stated.
He urged the court to hold that an expired document does not command any probative value in the eyes of the law.
Olanipekun did not concede that Tinubu holds a dual citizenship.
But he added that even if his client holds dual citizenship, which is not conceded, the 1999 constitution does not prevent him from seeking to occupy the number one office in the country.
“Assuming without conceding that the respondent was ever issued that passport, it is our further submission that facts relating to citizenship of a foreign country are rooted in the laws of that country, which have to be proved in Nigeria.
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“It is submitted further, that even if the respondent has a dual citizenship, which is not conceded, the Constitution does not preclude him from contesting the office of President of Nigeria,” he stated.
On Tinubu’s academic records in US, Olanipekun contended that the PDP witness tendered documents that were not certified by the school, even though Enahoro had earlier told the court that the letter from the school meant there was no need for certification.
“On the contrary, the respondent (Tinubu) who has no burden placed on him, went all out to obtain certified true copies of all his educational records from the Chicago State University, including his University Degree certificate and a public notice issued and signed by the Registrar of the University that he distinctively passed through its portals,” the learned silk added.
