By Chukwu Michael Ikechukwu
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The assessment of the aforementioned sections of the constitution has become sacrosanct in the face of controversy ensuing between Atiku Abubaka and Attorney General of the Federation with respect to the qualification for election into office of the president which section 131 (a) makes it mandatory that the contestant of the office must be a citizen by birth, as a result of misinterpretation of the above stated sections.
It is cardinal canon of statutory construction and interpretation that in construing any provision of the constitution, attention must be given to its whole content to ascertain the intendment of such provision under construction and where the provision under construction gives room to wide and narrow construction, that it should be given a wide interpretation to do justice. See the case of Dapialong & 5 ors v. Dariye & anor (2007)
Section 25 (1)(a) of the said constitution read as follows:
(1) The following persons are citizen 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 indigeneous to Nigeria.
Section 131 (1) (a) read as follows:
(1) A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the president if-
(a) He is a citizen of Nigeria by birth.
The issues to be distilled from the foregoing provisions of the constitution are as follows:
(1) What is the legal meaning i.e. de jure meaning of Nigeria against the factual meaning i.e. de facto meaning?
(2) What is the tenor of the phrase “indigenous to Nigeria?”
(3) What is the legal implication with respect to those citizens neither any of whose parent nor grandparents belongs or belonged to community indigenous to Nigeria?
SUBMISSION:
- ISSUE NUMBER ONE
To logically and constitutionally answer this question cognisance must be taken of section 2(2) of the constitution which is to the effect that Nigeria shall be a federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital territory Abuja. Section 3 went ahead to list states that make up Nigeria; Adamawa being where the Jada the community where Atiku Abubakar was born is situated is included in the list of states that make up Nigeria. it is submitted that whatever stated in the constitution with respect to Nigeria is to be taken as Nigeria as was constituted in 1999 when the constitution was promulgated not Nigeria as was constituted when flora Shaw named this part of African entity “Nigeria.” Anything aside this will amount to absurdity as those parts of Cameroon who were part of Nigeria before will be considered as citizen by birth qualifying to vie for the office of the president of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
More so, it should be noted that Adamawa was created after 1960, if the framers of the constitution really meant it to be Nigeria as was constituted in 1960, they would have list regions that constituted Nigeria then rather than states created thereafter. In view of the foregoing, submission, it is really irrational and preposterous for one to argue that because Jada in Adamawa was not part of Nigeria before 1961 and those who were born before then in that part are not Nigerians by birth.
Lastly, for the purpose of construing section 25(1)(a) of the Constitution, those belonging community indigenous to Nigeria, though not Nigeria before 1999 but were included in those states adumbrated by section 3 of the Constitution, are Nigerians retrospectively to unlimited time. Therefore, Jada is Nigeria retrospectively to unlimited time.
ISSUE NUMBER TWO
The constitution did not define what it means by the phrase “indigenous to Nigeria. In the absence of this, a recourse shall be had on the definition of the term “indigenous” offered by the Oxford Advance learner’s Dictionary 8 edition; it defined it as “belonging to a particular place [organization, community, country etc.] rather than coming to it from somewhere else” (emphasis mine). Belonging to a community means to be its member. For purpose of section 25(1) (a) and (b) and for someone to qualify as citizen by birth, either of his parents or grandparents must belong to a community indigenous to Nigeria. In the light of the foregoing, it should be noted that the only ground on which Atiku Abubakar can be disqualified is on the basis of neither any of his parents nor grandparents belongs or belonged to the community indigenous to Nigeria.
ISSUE NUMBER THREE
It is crystal clear that the legal implication of not having a parents or grandparents belonging to the community indigenous to Nigeria is that such person is not a citizen by birth and consequently, by virtue of section 131 (1)(a) of the constitution he or she is not qualified to vie for election into the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
It germane to clearly state at this juncture that the argument to the effect that Atiku Abubakar is not qualified to vie for the office of the president on the grounds that Jada community from where Atiku Abubakar hailed from was not Nigeria when Atiku Abubakar was given birth to, with profound respect to those who hold the view, does not hold water. It is emphatically submitted that the only ground upon which Atiku can be said to not qualify to contest to the said office is on the grounds that neither any of his parents nor grandparents belongs or belonged to the community indigenous to Nigeria.
Written By Chukwu Michael Ikechukwu (LL.B Hons)
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