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The ruling party also said Atiku's petition against President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC should be dismissed for lacking in merit.
In its reply to Atiku and PDP’s petition to declare the former vice president winner of the 2019 presidential election, the APC said that the 11.1 million votes recorded in favor Atiku in the election should be voided and considered a waste by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
According to Channels TV, the APC in its reply to the petition, filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi faulted the candidacy of Atiku in the election saying that as a Cameroonian, he shouldn’t have taken part in the presidential poll of Nigeria in the first instance.
The ruling party maintained that the former vice president was born on November 25, 1946, in Jada, Adamawa, in Northern Cameroon and is, therefore, a citizen of Cameroon and not a Nigerian by birth.
Going down the memory lane, APC said that prior to 1919, Cameroon used to be administered by Germany adding that Cameroon became part of a League of Nations mandate territory in 1918 after the defeat of Germany in World War 1.
APC further argued that in 1961, a plebiscite was held in British Cameroon to determine whether the people preferred to stay in Cameroon or align with Nigeria, Channels TV reports.
Explaining how Adamawa, the state Atiku comes from became a part of Nigeria, APC said while Northern Cameroon preferred a union with Nigeria, Southern Cameroon chose alignment with the mother country and that it was as a result of the plebiscite.
The ruling party, therefore, maintained that contrary to Atiku’s claim in his petition, he has no right to be voted as a candidate in the election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.