Meanwhile, lawyers, especially senior advocates of Nigeria, have reacted to the judgment with some saying the judgment could not stand.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ahmed Raji, said the judgment sacking the legislator for holding dual citizenship of Nigeria and the UK would not stand.

He said, “I don’t know the facts of the case. But if I understand and still recollect the provisions of the constitution and some decided authorities of the higher courts, it would seem that that judgment cannot hold water.

“I believe that an appeal to the Court of Appeal will put things in the proper shape. So, all I will say is that anyone who is aggrieved is encouraged to go on appeal.”

Also reacting, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Wahab Shittu, said, “The first thing to say is that our courts are not Father Christmas; they don’t make an order unless someone asks for it. If there are members of the National Assembly who hold dual citizenship, we cannot condemn them because their cases have not been tested in court. No one has invoked the jurisdiction of the court to challenge them.

“As for the Ondo lawmaker, who was sacked on the basis of dual citizenship, the question is: Is the decision of the tribunal consistent with constitutional provisions? My answer is yes. The lawmaker cannot hold such office while he has allegiance to another country.

“But we cannot on that basis generally condemn members of the National Assembly until the jurisdiction of the court is invoked.”

But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe, said the tribunal’s decision was wrong.

He said, “The tribunal is clearly wrong; the tribunal got it all mixed up. You cannot say because a man naturalises, he ceases to be a Nigerian. That decision may be correct if the man in question renounces his Nigerian citizenship upon naturalising. I don’t want to go into details because the case is already on appeal.”

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