at the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party , Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is not a Nigerian by birth following the plebiscite conducted in 1961 for the people of the present day Adamawa State, questions have been raised as to the relevance or otherwise of the issue to the matter before the tribunal considering that this is an issue that calls the nationality of some and the patriotism of others to the Nigerian nation.
In December 2014, the All Progressives Congress, APC, cleared Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to contest for its presidential ticket against the 2015 election. Fortunately, even Buhari himself contested in that primary against Atiku. While Buhari polled 3,430 votes, Atiku who came third in that election polled 954 while Kwankwaso, Okorocha, and Nda-Isaiah polled 974, 674 and 10, respectively.
What Nigerians should know is that the late Air Marshal Ibrahim M. Alfa was also from Adamawa State like Atiku and he, like Atiku, was also born before the 1961 plebiscite being referred to by Buhari, APC and their legal team at the tribunal. While Atiku was born on November 25, 1946, Air Marshal Alfa was born on August 14, 1946, and died on March 16, 2000.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his party cannot be done the favour of rewriting our history and injuring the nationality and patriotism of great sons and daughters of Nigeria from Adamawa State. Should the tribunal accede to the submission of APC, it automatically snatches the nationality of these Adamawa indigenes from them in a most violent manner and leaves them stateless, a condition which is not allowed under UN charters.
It is abundantly clear that by the virtue of their actions in the recent past, whether singly or jointly, Buhari and APC have always acknowledged that every Nigerian of Adamawa origin is a full-blooded Nigerian and cannot be denied their rights of citizenship even if they were born before the plebiscite of 1961.
Listening to Buhari/Buharists and APC can give migraine! Standing things on the head! Posterity will judge all.