Nigerians divided over evidence of Tinubu’s dual citizenship, as president-elect faces disqualification for perjury

Divided opinions have continued to trail fresh reports showing that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu may have acquired the citizenship of the French-speaking West African nation of the Republic of Guinea.

This is also as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader faces probable charge of perjury in court for lying in his affidavit presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It would be recalled that United States-based Nigerian investigative journalist, David Hundeyin had leaked suspected bio-data page of the Guinean international passport carried by Asiwaju Tinubu, indicating that the politician is a Guinea national.

The Guinean passport is also of a Diplomatic grade, which carried an expiry date of 2020.

Hundeyin who posted the leaked document via his Twitter account (@DavidHundeyin), Sunday, is also remembered for first leaking the Chicago, U.S court judgement documents detailing forfeiture deal of Tinubu in the drug-related and money laundering offences about two years ago.

Since the posting of evidence of Tinubu’s dual citizenship, Nigerians have been divided in their opinions regarding the president-elect’s latest saga, barely days after the 54-paged Chicago court papers were officially made public and now clearly threaten to harm the chances of Tinubu’s inauguration as President of Nigeria, come May 29, on the strength of the plethora of petitions filed before the Presidential Elections Petitions Court in Abuja by aggrieved other parties’ candidates in the February 25, 2023 poll.

This is also as some Nigerians have tried to draw correlation between Tinubu and his choice of Guinea for citizenship, saying that he entire Guinea, including neighbouring Guinea Bissau is notorious for drug business, being a channel for transport of cocaine from South America into Africa and onward to Europe through land bordering the Sahara Desert or flight from any West African country.

Hundeyin in his series of tweets, on Sunday also alleged that Tinubu perjured in his information supplied to INEC over citizenship status, as according to him, the then APC presidential candidate did not disclose his dual citizenship status in the form EC9 submitted to the electoral commission.

The Republic of Guinea, has Conakry as its capital, while the other Guinea in West Africa, has Bissau as its official capital. However, there is also the Portuguese speaking country of Equatorial Guinea, with its capital at Malabo.

Tinubu’s Guinean passport was reportedly discovered during a routine investigation into the financial assets of Nigerian politicians.

The Nigerian Constitution, Chapter 6, Part 1, Section 137 clearly states, that; A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of the president if -(a) subject to the provisions of section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or, except in such cases as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, he has made a declaration of allegiance to such other country.

“If it is established that Mr. Tinubu indeed holds dual citizenship, he could face disqualification from holding public office, including his aspirations for the presidency,” says prominent criminologist and human rights activist Emeka Umeagbalasi.

If proven to be true, Tinubu faces disqualification and withdrawal of his victory at the February 25 Presidential Elections, as well as further prosecution for perjury.

“On Tinubu’s INEC EC9 declaration, he stated that he has not obtained any other citizenship.

But he has Guinean citizenship, with his Guinean passport stating clearly that he was born in Nigeria – which means he obtained Guinean citizenship.

“This is perjury. Lying under oath,” wrote Hundeyin via his Twitter handle (@DavidHundeyin), Sunday.

Reactions have trailed the development, below are some captured by Oracle Today:

Abdrahmane Diallo (@abdrahmane_d) wrote:

“Who is Bola Tinubu???

“A Diplomatic Passport issued by the Rep. of Guinea to M. Tinubu as an advisor to the ex-Pres. Alpha Condé.

“Having a diplomatic passport does not guarantee citizenship, as you can hold a diplomatic passport of a country without being a citizen of it.

“It is purely diplomatic.”

Polonium (@PoloM77) wrote:

To contest as president of Nigeria, you must have only one nationality unless you were born in that country!!

Here is a passport of INEC’s President-Elect from another country!!

Shame on you all! Only a criminal wants a criminal as their leader!

Chigoziem (@Amagoz45) wrote:

Reason why he obtained citizenship in Guinea.

And his passport is a diplomatic passport.

Hope we all know what that means?

He’s a government official and can travel internationally with more ease without being checked.

Tinubu must not be sworn in.

Benedict Chiny (@bechiny) wrote:

Does this mean that Tinubu committed perjury? Do candidates fill the INEC EC9 declaration under oath?

Akinwunmi Olutayo (@AkinOluTayo) wrote:

But that passport has expired.  Won’t he claim he has renounced his citizenship?

My fear now is our Judiciary, those people are willing and ready to turn our constitution upside down for Tinubu.

Adetutu Balogun, MBA (@Tutsy22) wrote:

You are first a citizen of a country before you acquire a passport… validity of your passport is irrelevant.

Salisu Muhmmed Esq (@salisu_esq) wrote:

Dual citizenship does not in itself disqualify a candidate from contesting an election if the candidate is Nigerian citizen by birth. Sections 137(1) and 28 CFRN. The disqualification applies only to Nigerian citizen by naturalization or registration.

Dr A. TuruMbe (@NDrAgwoTurumbe) wrote:

For office of President it does. Just like in the US, the only office that requires you to be natural born citizen is the President and you must never have taken citizenship of another country. Same with Nigeria

Benjamin E (@linkoba101) wrote:

The real issue here is perjury. He lied that he doesn’t have dual citizenship. That is the problem

Programmer Oluwashola Smart (@Qualitysmart101) wrote:

“The disqualification applies only to Nigerian citizen by naturalization or registration.”

Thats the second part of your tweet, now read it again and tell us if he’s qualified or not.

Meanwhile, Dual citizenship disqualifies a candidate from being the president.

Kmakers (@Kmakers1) wrote:

Both Sections 66 (National Assembly) & 137 (Presidency) are dependent on Section 28 which means that dual citizenship does not affect election to the office of president or national assembly.

It would be recalled that, last week, Guinean authorities had seized about 1.5 tonnes of cocaine from a Sierra Leone-flagged ship docked at the port city of Kamsar, state television said.

More than 60 bags each filled with 25kg of cocaine were found, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Wednesday. All ten crew were arrested, Radio Television Guineenne added.

Drug smugglers often use West African countries as a transit point to ship cocaine from South America to Europe.

About three tonnes of cocaine were seized in August last year from a ship anchored in Guinean waters.

Hundeyin, last Wednesday, also posted series of revealing tweets about Tinubu and his wife, Senator Oluremi, whom he alleged to be a collaborator in the drug trade.

Hundeyin shared documents to prove that Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of the President-elect, is connected with drug trafficking.

According to the document, Mrs Oluremi opened a joint bank account with the wife of a drug lord whom David Hundeyin alleged was a member of Tinubu’s drug trafficking gang.

Hundeyin had previously shared more proof to buttress his drug trafficking allegations against the Tinubu.

Last Tuesday, the ruling APC, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), that it was Tinubu’s bank accounts that were charged with receiving and laundering proceeds of heroin sales in the United States and not Tinubu himself.

Reacting to this, David Hundeyin who ridiculed the APC’s legal team, shared photo of what he said is Tinubu’s heroin drug house in Chicago which also appears on his (Tinubu’s) bank accounts where proceeds of drug trafficking were found.

“Good luck dissociating the man from drug dealing when it is recorded in the case file that the Chicago house address he used to register the bank accounts was the same address his heroin gang used as their trap house (a legendary dunce move from the world’s dumbest drug kingpin,” Hundeyn wrote via his Twitter handle.