'Why I revealed Atiku's true citizenship' - Nnamdi Kanu * Says he wants to prove that Biafra referendum won't be the first in Nigeria

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‘Why I revealed Atiku’s true citizenship’ – Nnamdi Kanu

* Says he wants to prove that Biafra referendum won’t be the first in Nigeria

By Steve Oko

The Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has explained that his motive in revealing the true indigenship of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, was not to spite him but to prove a point.

Kanu who provided the insight in his latest live broadcast on Radio Biafra, Sunday night, said his true intention was to prove that prebicite through which Atiku and other Adamawa indigenes became Nigerians in 1961, was not a new lexicon in Nigeria political history.

He explained that contrary to the twisting of his intention by “the enemies of Biafra struggle”, he wanted to prove that the demand for referendum by Biafra agitators does not amount to treasonable felony as being accused by the federal government.

His words : “The incontrovertible truth is that His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar the former Vice President of Nigeria for eight years, became a Nigerian by virtue of the referendum of the 11th of February 1961.

” He was not born a Nigerian and as such he became a Nigerian as a result of the British organised plebiscite held in British Cameroons to give the people of Adamawa, where Atiku comes from, the opportunity to choose where they would like to belong. Either to be part of Cameroon or be joined with Nigeria.

“When I first raised this issue, which incidentally has been ignored by all arms of government including INEC whose duty it is to ensure that candidates meet all stipulated constitutional requirements, it was not to insinuate or imply that Atiku is not a Nigerian, but rather to highlight the very constitutionally critical point at the heart of IPOB agitation for Biafra independence; which is that asking for a referendum is never a crime in any law known to man.

“Therefore the persecution of IPOB by the Nigerian judicial establishment smacks of ignorance of constitutional law and an abrogation of the principles of self determination as explicitly enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Therefore if Adamawa people can be allowed to freely choose where they wish to belong, then justice and equity dictates that we the people of Biafra must be allowed to do the same. This point that is lost on Justice Binta Nyako and numerous other semi-literate judges handling IPOB cases today in Nigerian courts.

“I merely used the issue of Atiku’s citizenship of Nigeria, via a referendum, to buttress my point. It was certain sections of the anti-Biafra media, in the pay of APC, that twisted what I said and accused me of saying that Atiku is a Cameroonian without providing the accompanying narrative.

“It is an undisputed historical fact that northern Cameroon voted to join Nigeria, whereas Ambazonia or southern Cameroon opted to join Cameroon. On June 1, 1961, Atiku Abubakar previously a citizen of northern Cameroon became a Nigerian citizen. Likewise on 1 October 1961 Ambazonia, the southern territory dissolved into Cameroon.

“However, the weak and porous argument Atiku’s defence team are making in response to this line of attack by APC is to say that, “it is ludicrous to allege that a man who became Nigeria’s vice-president, who has lived, invested and paid tax in the country for years is not a citizen. And by the way, northern Cameroon was constitutionally wedded with Nigeria in “holy matrimony”.

” This is a wholly unnecessary digression that failed to address the constitutional question of place of birth as key qualification for anybody seeking to become the president of Nigeria. That Atiku was the Vice President is not the issue at hand but rather his suitability as defined by the constitution of Nigeria.

“Let us look at what the constitution says by turning to Section 131(a) of the badly written, badly worded and problematic militaristic 1999 Constitution to understand the origin of this confusion. In this address tonight you will find out that Nigerian presidency, Judiciary, National Assembly, INEC are all useless in terms of understanding, interpreting and upholding the constitution they all swore to defend.

“Go to Chapter VI: The Executive of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Part I: Federal Executive

A. The President of the Federation

131. A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if-

a. he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;

b. he has attained the age of forty years; • Minimum age of head of state

c. he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party;

and

d. he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.

(This is page 50 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution).

“As everyone can see very clearly, it is unambiguously stated that for you to become the president of Nigeria, you must be born a Nigerian. Simply put, your birth certificate or any official notation must say clearly that you are a Nigerian. As at the time Atiku was born, his citizenship on his birth certificate read Cameroonian. This is the crux of the matter and the very simple truth.

“Having said that, this section of the Nigerian Constitution is clearly defective because Abdulsalami Abubakar is neither a philosopher, social scientist or thinker, he was another quota military general that never saw any major combat. He is not a constitutional expert. Some people argue foolishly that Atiku was the Comptroller of Customs and Vice President but this is not the point.

“Both positions do not require you to be a Nigerian by birth. You can be a 10 time US Senator but once you want to become the US president, better make sure you are born on US soil.

“This controversial insertion into the Nigerian constitution is a direct result of copy and paste culture that pervades African intellectualism. Because the great USA constitution says that a person must be born on US soil to be president, those that claim they wrote the constitution of Nigeria simply lifted this key part of US constitution and simply pasted on the Nigerian constitution without asking themselves if the organic emergence of the United States is the same as that of Nigeria that is a mere geographic expression.

“USA is a nation that was built from scratch, Nigeria on the other hand is neither a country nor a nation, it is a British contraption, an artificial creation designed the serve the economic interest of Britain. It is not a nation and can never be.

“That is why it makes sense to say you must be born on US soil to become a president whereas if you do the same in Nigeria, you will find out that nobody is actually a Nigerian because the country is a man made creation. With this ridiculous born in Nigeria requirement, nobody born in present day Adamawa before 1961 or those of us born in Biafra between 1967 to 1970 can ever vie for the office of the president of Nigeria.

“Had the constitution of Nigeria been written by genuine learned people, it would have been highlighted during the draft stage, that Nigeria is a mere geographical expression as Awolowo famously said and not a nation. In other words Nigeria does not exist, it only does on paper because it is a glorified British Company the Royal Niger Company.

“The issue of being born a Nigerian to qualify to contest for president would not have been inserted into the constitution. It is the fault of the National Assembly and judiciary. They don’t see far enough, all they are concerned about is furniture allowance. I reminded them during one of my broadcasts to recognise the urgency of the situation and amend the 1999 constitution before the 2019 elections but they refused.

“That a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest for the office of the President of the country is a constitutional anomaly because those from Adamawa born before 1961 and we Biafrans with Biafra on our birth certificates cannot contest for the presidency of Nigeria either unless the constitution is amended. This is a fact of law.

“Instead of the National Assembly to invoke the doctrine of necessity when I highlighted this issue, some of them joined the gutter media in Nigeria to attack me.

“INEC on its own part failed to do due diligence because all that mattered to them was to rig Jubril APC back to Aso Rock and make huge sums of money in the process. Imagine professors and vice chancellors rigging elections in broad daylight. Unbelievable!

“Atiku Abubakar was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, now Adamawa State, then in Northern Cameroon, “was a citizen of Cameroon but now a Nigerian by plesbiscite.

“This information has always been in the public domain. What I did was just to flag it. The only part that can be said that I pioneered is that “Atiku became a Nigerian citizen by the sheer force of Referendum” which is what I want for Biafra. I wanted to prove to some ignorant Nigerians and their quack judges that asking for a referendum is not treasonable felony.

“What the ongoing saga confirms and what we have always known is that Nigerian government and her agents are dedicated students of Radio Biafra. They learn from IPOB and implement our ideas and policies.

“It is clear that APC were smart enough to deploy what they learnt from Radio Biafra but PDP were slow off the mark. Had PDP vigorously pursued the twin track of asking for Jubril’s DNA and demanding for a proper WAEC certificate, by now Jubril would have returned to Sudan.”

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Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.