Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Atiku Abubakar Eligibility To Contest In 2023

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit challenging the eligibility of former vice president Atiku Abubakar to run for public office in Nigeria.

Recall, the suit had claimed ex-VP is not a Nigerian and therefore not eligible to run for president of Nigeria.

The application was instituted by the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa (EMA) on February 11, 2018 (prior to the 2019 presidential election that was won by President Muhammadu Buhari), and the trial court verdict on the case was given on Monday by Justice Inyang Ekwo.

The group had alleged that the situation surrounding Atiku’s birth forbids him from running for the presidency, adding that his place of birth in 1946 (Ganye Local Government Area in Adamawa) was not part of Nigeria at the time.

The plaintiff urged the court to declare that “by the combined interpretation of Section 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and going by the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he cannot be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to contest for the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

On his part, Atiku’s lawyers had described the application as a waste of the court’s time.

In his judgment on Monday, Justice Ekwo, held that the plaintiff had no right or capacity to bring such action in court. Justice Ekwo dismissed the suit, describing the plaintiff as a “busy body”.