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The minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, says the Nigerian constitution permits President-elect Bola Tinubu to have dual citizenship.
After Mr Tinubu’s Guinean diplomatic passport surfaced on social media, internet users went into a frenzy over how the president-elect of Africa’s largest economy lied to the nation’s electoral commission while under oath.
After Mr Tinubu’s Guinean diplomatic passport surfaced on social media, internet users went into a frenzy over how the president-elect of Africa’s largest economy lied to the nation’s electoral commission while under oath.
“I know he carries a Nigerian passport. I don’t know about dual citizenship. I know he resided abroad when he went into exile,” stated Mr Fashola, a former Lagos governor, on Channels TV Sunday.
He added, “I don’t know if they gave him American citizenship. What does that have to do with the results of the election? The last time I checked, I think the Nigerian constitution allows you to have dual citizenship. Doesn’t it?”
The dual citizenship dimension, which has caused Mr Tinubu to trend for hours on Twitter, would likely dominate public chatter amid the ongoing election petition trial because of potential legal actions that would be instituted over constitutional violations.
Section 137 (1)(a) of the Nigerian Constitution says a person will not be qualified to be president if “he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria.”
Nonetheless, courts have repeatedly interpreted that section of the Constitution as inapplicable to a Nigerian-born or a citizen born to either a Nigerian parent or both parents.
Peoplesmind
