ATIKU ABUBAKAR: NOT NIGERIAN ENOUGH TO BE PRESIDENT.

ICHEOKU says there is a reason there are rules guiding any society, most times mimeographed in a document called the Constitution. Laws are also made pursuant to such enshrined stipulations, either to tweak it to make it better or improve and update some Sections of it that are no longer germane to the dictates of present day life of the society, as well as other society's developmental needs. 

So, until such a document is amended through a Constitutional Reform or parts of it are interpreted as being repugnant, no longer attainable or efficacious; and discarded by a court of competent jurisdiction, the document in its entirety still remains the operating law of the land and citizens and non citizen residents alike, of the country, are bound by it. 

It is the reference point of everything that goes on in the country and every person is expected to abide by its provisions; thus leading to the question and the reason for this opinion, who is a BORN IN NIGERIA citizen for the purpose of being president. By extension, does somebody who was born in a territory or province which was not an integral part of Nigeria as at the time of his birth automatically become a BORN IN NIGERIA citizen by reason of a territorial assimilation? In essence, what is the nature of the citizenship of Atiku Abubakar that impacts his eligibility or otherwise to be president. 

ICHEOKU says to answer this question, the court, which is the only authority to conclusively resolve the issue, must first determine what is meant by BORN IN NIGERIA. Thereafter, they will also weigh in on whether anyone not born in Nigeria can migrate his birth status from NOT BORN IN NIGERIA to BORN IN NIGERIA, simply because the place or territory where he was born later became part of Nigeria. If the then Northern Cameroonian  Adamawa Highlands was administered separately from Nigeria before the plebiscite, how then is it Nigeria? By the same token, if you became a member of an existing club or fraternity or any other social or professional association long after it was formed, is it safe to assume that you are a foundational member therein? 

ICHEOKU says has read a lot of opinions about the nature and type of Atiku Abubakar's citizenship, both those for and those against him; but many of them were tailored according to their perception and/or political biases. To these fellows, ICHEOKU says to please understand that Atiku's citizenship of Nigeria is not in question here or in anyway doubtful. Atiku Abubakar is by all account a bona fide citizen of Nigeria and nobody can take or wish that consequential fact away from him. As a result, he is entitled to all rights and privileges accruing to any Nigerian citizen just as anyone else, except as may be specifically limited by the Constitution in certain specifically mentioned aspects, such as is contained in Section 131(a) of the Constitution. But Atiku Abubakar's citizenship of Nigeria is not the issue here; rather it is the nature of his citizenship, and whether someone parading his type of citizenship is eligible to be president. 

This is somewhat a settled law, as is codified in Section 131(a) of the Constitution, which  clearly stated that ONLY BORN IN NIGERIA citizens of Nigeria are qualified to be president of Nigeria. It is the law and the only way to get around the law is to change it, period. The delineation is specifically limited to the office of president and no other, not even the Vice Presidency. So, to those who are arguing that since Atiku Abubakar rose to the rank of a director in the Customs, was elected governor of a State and was also once a Vice President, that automatically qualifies him for president, ICHEOKU says to please have a second read of the extant provision of the Constitution under review. It's application is exclusively to the office of the president and nothing else. 

Therefore, Atiku Abubakar, as a bona fide citizen of Nigeria is supremely entitled and as of right, to attain any level in the Civil Service, run for any office in the land, be a governor and even be made a Vice President without portfolio, but the said Section 131(a) of the Nigerian Constitution precludes him from being president, because he did not acquire his citizenship of Nigeria through birth. Atiku Abubakar was not born in Nigeria but subsequently became a Nigeria because his people voted to join Nigeria. ICHEOKU read how Atiku tried to explain the migration pattern of his forebears from Sokoto to Adamawa; but that alone does not cure his NOT BORN IN NIGERIA status, because the Fulani are nomads and their settlement is their home. His grandparents made that choice to migrate to Cameroon and so Cameroon was their home until their part of Cameroon voted to join Nigeria. 

Recall that Fulani people are not indigenous to Nigeria but all migrated from Futa Djallon Senegal/Gambia to all the places in Africa where they settled. It is also pertinent to note that Atiku Abubakar did not mention the thousands of indigenous Adamawans who his forebears wiped out and displaced; but that will be reserved for another time's discussion. It is also interesting to hear Atiku Abubakar call his grandfather and father "learned"; yet his supposedly "learned" father did not allow him to equally become "learned"; rather he considered Western education as dangerous, a definite precursor to the present day Boko Haram and you wonder who is advising this fella and writing his speeches. 

Atiku also narrated how his father drowned in a shallow river but failed to say if he was drunk when he waded into the river; and also mentioned how the same man he said was a successful businessman could not afford to pay his bail amount when he was arrested. Anyway, Olusegun Obasanjo in his book " MY WATCH" similarly alluded to Atiku Abubakar's questionable pedigree; begging the question, does Atiku Abubakar even know who gave birth to him? 

Although the question of Atiku's citizenship status has never been contested nor previously adjudicated on, but the court cannot seat over a dispute which has not been brought before it; otherwise he would have been earlier disqualified from even running for the presidency and long before this time. ICHEOKU says such an excluding provision is somewhat universal amongst countries, inserted in their Constitutions to protect and safeguard their countries from being hijacked by mercenary presidents; from citizens of other constructs who may not have enough skin in the game to be as patriotic as BORN IN THE COUNTRY CITIZENS, who have no other country they can run back to or assertively call their own.

Recall that during the Goodluck Jonathan's enabled National Conference, that the present traditional ruler of Adamawa Highlands Emirate, Emir Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa, Atiku Abubakar's ruler and who Atiku is his seconding command, threatened to move with his people back to Cameroon should Nigeria fall apart as a result of lack of consensus on how to continuously live together as one united Nigeria. Such a divided loyalty, no matter how improbable or unlikely it might seem, is what such Section 131(a) seeks to guard against because when stuff hits the ceiling, where would such a technically "foreign" president pitch his tent of loyalty. 

For instance, were Cameroonian gendarmes to attack Nigeria through the Adamawa Highlands flank and Atiku Abubakar was president, will a "President" Atiku Abubakar send forces to crush the attackers alongside the resulting collateral damage, comprised of his kindred who are still on the other side of the Adamawa Highlands which is still in Cameroon. Also, do not forget that the Lamido Adamawa Emirate Kingdom stretches into Cameroon and that some of his subjects are still Cameroonians. But unfortunately, some Nigerians are not looking at the issue dispassionately, rather through their biased jaundiced spectacles and are arriving at their discordant tunes; otherwise the issue is specific enough and quite measured. 

Anyway, the provision of eligibility was inserted in the Constitution because the framers of the Constitution were cognizant that there are different categories of citizenship and wanted to preclude some categories from being president. The United States of America has a similar provision in their Constitution as well, which prevents somebody like Arnold Schwarzenegger from ever becoming president; admitted his children can; just like Atiku Abubakar's own children can become president of Nigeria, but definitely not Atiku himself. It might seem somewhat discriminatory, unfair and unjust; but until it is changed, it remains the law of the land. Anybody who does not like it or has an issue with its seemingly harsh outcome, should move for a Constitutional Reform in order to change it. But until then, Atiku, although a bona fide citizen of Nigeria, remains disqualified for the office of the president, by reason of his not meeting the threshold of the BORN IN NIGERIA requirement of Section 131(a) of the Constitution. 

ICHEOKU says unless the court liberally interprets the provision and somehow makes  accommodates for an Atiku Abubakar exception, he stands on a quick sand in his pursuit of the holy grail of a lost "mandate", because he lacks the needed fundamental qualification to even contest for the office in the first place. He was born in Adamawa Highlands Cameroon long before the territory changed hands and became part of Nigeria, hence lacks the BORN IN NIGERIA citizenship stature. Nigeria was constituted in 1914 and as at that time, Adamawa Highlands was part of Cameroon and remained so until the 1961 plebiscite which made them Nigeria. 

Atiku Abubakar was born before the plebiscite and automatically failed the test of a BORN IN NIGERIA citizen and not eligible for president. The law of the land said that ONLY BORN IN NIGERIA citizens shall be president; the law might seem too harsh, but laws are not supposed to be a Mr Nice Guy or fair nor just. It also does not entertain or admit pity party; the reason Lady Justice is a black-widow, always dressed in black and also wears a blindfold. She is a mean MF who does not give a damn nor care a hoot about causing anyone any hurt feelings. Killing people is not fair, but it regularly condemns people to death, so it is not a big deal if Atiku Abubakar is disqualified from the presidency by reason of his not being born in Nigeria because he was NOT BORN IN NIGERIA.