Alex Enumah in Abuja
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN on Wednesday said he did not institute “legal action on the citizenship or otherwise” of the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Media reports particularly online publications had linked Malami to a suit claiming that the former Vice President is not qualified to contest the office of the President of Nigeria on the grounds that he is not a Nigerian citizen.
Reacting to the media reports however the minister in a statement by his media aide Dr. Umar Gwandu, denied ever instituting any legal action on the citizenship of Atiku.
“The Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has never filled any case before any court in the country challenging the citizenship of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar”, Gwandu said.
He explained that the matter in contention was part of the 2019 pre-election matters instituted by a Civil Society Organization, the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa in suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/177/2019 in respect of which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation was made a co-defendant.
While stating that the issue had already been widely reported by the media since April, 2019, the media aide added that it was unfortunate that stale news stories capable of causing confusion were repackaged and presented to the general public as current news.
