Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja has fixed September 27 for hearing in a suit challenging the nationality of the former vice president, Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
The judge gave the date yesterday after counsel for the plaintiff, Mr. Akinola Oladimeji, said he could not proceed with the matter.
Oladimeji had told the court that he was not ready to proceed with the case because he learnt about the case 24 hours (on Wednesday) to the time.
He said he had earlier been informed that the case would come up on September 20.
Consequent upon the mix-up in the scheduling of the case, Justice Ekwo adjourned till September 27 for hearing but told the plaintiff that it would be the last adjournment he would grant on the matter.
Recall that a group called Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa instituted the suit in 2019 to challenge Atiku’s eligibility to contest for president.
It contended that the defendant was not born a Nigerian.
Other defendants in the suit are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice.
The plaintiff asked the court to declare that by provisions of Section 131(a) of the Constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President.
But Abubakar objected to the plaintiff’s right to challenge his nationality, arguing that it failed to show the interest it had above other citizens of Nigeria to be entitled to approach the court on the matter.
