Can A Nigerian Presidential Candidate Be Disqualified For Dua Citizenship?

The dual citizenship allegation is the latest in the series of controversies surrounding the President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu. While his critics claim it is enough to bar him from the presidency based on Section 137 of the Constitution, his supporters think otherwise. Alex Enumah examines the constitutional implications

For the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, there is no end to the controversies trailing his past. Last week, social media went abuzz with the dual citizenship allegations against him with his critics claiming that dual citizenship disqualifies him from the presidency based on Section 137 of the 1999 Constitution.

The fresh controversy started when an independent journalist, David Hundeyin, uploaded images of a Guinean diplomatic passport bearing “Bola Ahmed Tinubu” on his Twitter account. The passport, which also carried Tinubu’s image was said to have been issued in October 2015. It however expired in October 2020.

There had been controversies surrounding Tinubu’s age, name, educational background, health status, businesses, hometown and past links with drug trafficking, all of which have not been cleared.

Tinubu’s emergence as President-elect in the February 25 presidential election has been challenged by some of his opponents, including his two main rivals, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, in a battle that would drag up to the Supreme Court in a span over 240 days.

The dual citizenship dimension, which has caused the former governor of Lagos State to trend, has dominated the social media amid the ongoing election petition trial because of potential legal actions over alleged constitutional violations.

107 of the constitution which is on disqualification/requirement for election into the House of Assembly in any state in Nigeria; Section 137 of the constitution which is on disqualification/requirement for election of the President of Nigeria and section 142 for Vice-President of Nigeria; and Section 182 of the constitution which is on disqualification/requirement for election of the Governors and section 187 for Deputy-Governors in states in Nigeria.

All the above sections make citizenship a requirement for any person to be elected into legislative or executive office in Nigeria. The sections of the constitution cited above refer readers back to Section 28 of the constitution.

The first requirement to be qualified to be President of Nigeria and for some elective positions is that the candidate must be a citizen by birth. However, there is a section of the constitution which appears to provide that dual citizens are exempt from becoming Nigerian Presidents. Section 137 paragraph (a) of the Constitution provides that subject to the provision of section 28 of this Constitution, anyone who voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or, except in such a case as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, has made a declaration of allegiance to such other country. It should be noted that for a dual citizen to be disqualified he must have voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country.

never loses his citizenship even where he holds dual citizenship of another country and cannot be disqualified from contesting election into the House of Representative on the ground that he holds such dual citizenship.

Unlike Section 137 which appears to be redundant for presidential aspirants, Section 66 which contains similar provisions is not. This is so because, since every citizen can aspire to be a member of the National Assembly, it therefore means that some of them can be caught in the web described in Section 28 which Section 66 like its counterpart 137 refers to.

Therefore, the only question Tinubu may likely have to answer is to explain why he allegedly told INEC in form EC-9 that he never obtained citizenship in another country.

It remains unclear whether the LP, PDP and the other parties could introduce the argument to favour their prayers at the presidential elections petition court.

Though the 21-day window for amending petitions has passed, if the presiding judges consider their argument to be sufficiently compelling, the deadline may be extended or waived.

It would be recalled that during the build-up to the presidential election, human rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, had warned President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, against the danger of picking a presidential candidate with dual citizenship.

Ajulo said there was a plot by the opposition to ensure that the APC was disqualified based on this just as was done in the Bayelsa Governorship race in February 2020.

According to Ajulo in a letter he wrote to Buhari, some of the aspirants either had dual citizenship or criminal records, which could be used in disqualifying the APC.

Ajulo then asked the APC to take into consideration the 1999 Constitution specifically Chapter VI, Part 1, Section 131 and which outlines the basic requirements to be met by a candidate to be eligible for an election into the office of the President in Nigeria. He said among others that these requirements include that the aspirant must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth.

Ajulo reportedly added: “Section 137 of the same constitution as amended, goes further to illuminate this matter by providing for several situations which doth render a candidate ineligible to be elected as the President, stating that a candidate will be ineligible: If he/she has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or has declared allegiance to such other country.”

However, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has argued that the 1999 Constitution does not bar Nigerians with dual citizenship from becoming president of Nigeria.

Fashola, while speaking during a television programme, said: “I know he (Tinubu) carries a Nigerian passport. I don’t know about dual citizenship. I know he resided abroad when he went into exile. 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?”

He, however, added that he needed to check what the constitution actually says on the issue of dual citizenship.