The Chairman,

Independent National Electoral Commission

PMB 0184, Gariki

Abuja,  Nigeria

Dear Sir,

AN OPEN QUESTION TO THE INEC CHAIRMAN

I am writing this letter to you with a strong conviction that I will get a response in good time. Currently, Nigeria public officers are now rekindling the hope of Nigerians in our great country. I was very delighted when I got a response for the open letter I sent to Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu of EFCC about six weeks ago. Apart from him, I have got prompt responses from letters I had sent to the Presidency and Bureau of Public Enterprises (I am saying these to commend them). I am very happy that the leadership of these agencies replied me despite the fact that I am not known to them as a person. They gave me the courtesy a patriotic Nigerian deserves from a devoted leader.

Mr. Chairman Sir, I write to seek from your commission, the unambiguous   interpretation of section 137 (1) a and section 182 (1) a of Nigeria constitution. From my layman interpretation, it seems like these sections disqualified certain categories of Nigerians who have acquired citizenship of other countries from contesting for the post of President and State Governor respectively. There are similar sections disqualifying people from being a Senator, Member of Reps or State House of Assembly. Taking section 137 for example, it states that:

(1) A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of 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; or

(b) He has been elected to such office at any two previous elections; or

(c) Under the law in any part of Nigeria, he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind;

The section 137 made reference to section 28 which defines citizenship of Nigeria. The referred section 28 states that “

 (1) Subject to the other provisions of this section, a person shall forfeit forthwith his Nigerian citizenship if, not being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he acquires or retains the citizenship or nationality of a country, other than Nigeria, of which he is not a citizen by birth.

Apart from ordinary laymen (at least in law and legal matters) like me, a discussion with two lawyer friends did not resolve the matter. While one says it applies to those who acquired Nigeria citizenship or naturalized, the other stated that it affects any Nigerian who has acquired citizenship of other countries irrespective of being a Nigerian by birth or by Naturalization.

Ordinarily, this should not be convincing because we currently have Ministers, Governors Deputy Governors and Senators who are citizens of America and Britain. However, our country is a place where clarifications should be made and re-made from the appropriate quarters because the Minister, Governors, Senators etc mentioned above may be those proverbial animals that are more equal than others

Bearing the fact that Part 1 (sec 4) a of Decree 17 of 1998 puts one of the functions of INEC as:

(a)  Organize, conduct and supervise all the elections and matters pertaining to elections into, all the elective offices provided in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I have decided to seek unequivocal clarification of this from you on behalf of my fellow Nigerians abroad.

Yours truly,

Akinyemi Akinlabi

Robot  # 1 | 24.04.2008 20:40

The Chairman,Independent National Electoral CommissionPMB 0184, Gariki...Read the full article.