The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari is not a Nigerian, but from Niger Republic.
Kanu, in a broadcast from the United Kingdom at the weekend, said that neither “dead” Muhammadu Buhari, nor “his replacement” Jibril al Sudani, is qualified to contest for Nigeria’s presidential election.
Buhari is not a Nigerian – Nnamdi Kanu
In his argument, Kanu stated that the fact that an individual is born on Nigerian soil, is not enough criteria to qualify them as Nigerian citizen by birth, except the parents, grandparents of such person is also born in Nigeria.
The IPOB leader said that Buhari’s father, Hardo Adamu, was a nomadic FULANI trader, a duck seller, from Niger Republic and later became a bodyguard in the Emir of Daura’s palace, which made him to settle in Daura, Katsina State, adding that he (Hardo) was borne in Niger Republic, not Nigeria.
He went further to say:
“NEITHER THE DEAD BUHARI NOR HIS REPLACEMENT JUBRIL AL-SUDANI IS A CITIZEN OF NIGERIA BY BIRTH ACCORDING TO SECTION 25 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
“Buhari, even before his death should not have contested for the presidency how much less the impostor Jubril Al-Sudani.
“Section 25 (1) of the badly worded, badly written 1999 Nigerian Constitution states that being born on Nigerian soil is not enough to qualify you as a Nigerian citizen by BIRTH, unless your father, mother, grandfather or grandmother is also born in Nigeria:
“According to the highest (Supreme) law in Nigeria which is the constitution, ‘The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by BIRTH-namely:
“(a) every person born in Nigeria BEFORE the date of independence, EITHER of whose parents or ANY of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community INDIGENOUS to Nigeria;
“Provided that a person shall NOT become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if NEITHER of his parents nor any of his grandparents was BORN in Nigeria.
“In simple/plain English this means that if NONE of your parents or grandparents is BORN in Nigeria, you cannot contest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, simple and short.
“Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution which APC is relying on to disqualify Atiku, provides:
“‘A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if –
(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by BIRTH.’
“Now, leaving that of Atiku for the moment, let us now consider whether the dead Buhari (now replaced by Jibril from Sudan) was a citizen of Nigeria by BIRTH, as defined under Section 25 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) above.
“Keep in mind that Section 25 did not provide being born in Nigeria as the ONLY conditions for being considered being Nigerian by BIRTH. There are other conditions, which one must fulfil and they are:
“1. As applied to Buhari, you must have been born before Independence, so having been borne in 1942, the dead Buhari passed this first test.
“2. Either of Buhari’s parents or any of his parents must belong to a tribe INDIGENOUS to Nigeria; and … [mind you not Republic of Niger]
“3. Under the Proviso to Section 25, either of them MUST also be BORN in Nigeria. [This is the most important proviso because even if you pass 1 and 2, you will still fail and won’t qualify to be Nigerian president if you don’t pass No 3, that is what the law says].
“Now, we know from public records that Buhari’s father, Hardo Adamu, was a nomadic FULANI trader, a duck seller, from Niger Republic and later became a bodyguard in the Emir of Daura’s palace, which made him to settle in Daura, Katsina State. So, he (Hardo) was borne in Niger Republic, not Nigeria.
“And Buhari’s father, being from Niger DID NOT belong to a tribe indigenous to Nigeria. This law was designed to stop cross border tribes from claiming indigenous identity to run for the presidency of Nigeria. Remember that the Yoruba tribe extends into Benin Republic.
“Though they are Yoruba by indigenous identity, they are not regarded as a population indigenous to Nigeria by virtue of the fact that they belong to another country. The same applies to Fulani people indigenous to Niger Republic that share common porous border with Nigeria.
“But given that Section 25 used the words ‘either of the parents or any of the grand parents’, we shall consider whether Buhari’s mother, Zulaihatu, was born in Nigeria.
“What we know for sure is that Hardo Adamu married Zulaihatu in Niger Republic and both of them, being nomadic, emigrated to Daura together sometime in early 1941. That is why there is NO record of any local Daura family in present day Katsina State that claims Zulaihatu comes from them.
“In other words, Buhari’s mother, also a Fulani from Niger Republic was NOT born in Nigeria.
“Now, here’s the question: if neither of Buhari’s parents were BORN in Nigeria, is it likely that any of his grandparents, that is the parents of Hardo and Zulaihatu were born in Nigeria? Not likely. This is where I challenge the Daura Emirate of Katsina to confirm or deny this.
“Let us now recall the Proviso to Section 25 which states, and I quote:
‘Provided that a person shall NOT become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if NEITHER of his parents nor any of his grandparents was BORN in Nigeria.”
“So, now we know that even though the late Buhari may have been born in Daura in present day Katsina State, NEITHER of his parents or grandparents were born in Nigeria. Buhari is therefore NOT a citizen of Nigeria by BIRTH as defined in the Proviso to Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“So, even if they now claim that the Fulani is indigenous to Nigeria, Buhari still failed the FINAL and ultimate test of his parents or grandparents not being born in Nigeria.
“So, given that APC has opened the door by challenging Atiku’s citizenship by BIRTH, it now lies within the rights of every right-thinking person to also question Buhari’s citizenship by BIRTH, even litigate it in Court.”
