The Federal High Court in Abuja has set a deadline for determining whether a former vice president is a Nigerian or not.
On Monday, the court set a date of February 21, 2022, to rule on a lawsuit attempting to prevent Atiku Abubakar from running for president in 2023.
In the lawsuit, a group known as the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa brought three legal concerns to the court for resolution.
"Whether section 25 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), is the exclusive authority that specifies forth means by which a person might become a Nigerian citizen by birth?" it questioned the court.
The Plaintiff stated that Atiku was born on December 25, 1946, in a 12-paragraph declaration testified to by one Michael Okejimi.
The Plaintiff, Michael Okejimi, deposed to a 12-paragraph statement in which he stated his date of birth.
That Northern Cameroon became part of Nigeria on June 1, 1961, while the Southern area disintegrated into Cameroon on October 1, 1961.
That Ganye, which includes the 1st Defendant's birthplace of Jada, was the British Cameroons' headquarters until joining Nigeria after the plebiscite.
Malami, arguing that the former Vice President is not a Nigerian by birth, pointed out that Atiku, whose hometown of Jada was once part of Northern Cameroon, became a Nigerian citizen in 1961 after a plebiscite.
Meanwhile, although other defendants urged the court to dismiss the action, the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, SAN, backed the complaint, claiming that Atiku is not constitutionally allowed to run for President.
The first Defendant was born on November 25, 1946, in Jada, Cameroon's northern region. He claimed that the 1961 plebiscite had the effect of integrating the inhabitants of Northern Cameroon into Nigeria as new citizens, even after the country's independence.
Malami stated in an affidavit filed by his team of attorneys led by Oladipo Okpeseyi, SAN, that Atiku committed an offence under Section 118(1)(k) of the Electoral Act by contesting election to the post of Vice President before now, although knowing that he is not a Nigerian citizen by birth.
Malami pleaded in favour of the first defendant, claiming that his parents died before the 1961 vote.
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