A new lawsuit has been filed seeking to disqualify former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku received 371 votes to become the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate at the party’s convention on Saturday.
Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, a constitutional lawyer, filed the new suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/751/2022, at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
The plaintiff claimed that Atiku is not constitutionally qualified to run for president.
He sought seven major reliefs from Atiku, the PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, who were named as the first, second, and third defendants in the case, respectively; and the Attorney-General of the Federation was added as the fourth defendant.
The plaintiff asked the court to determine “Whether by the combined provisions of sections 1(1) & (2), 25 and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
“Whether by the combined interpretation of sections 1(1) & (2), 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he can be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
