An ally of the president-elect and Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has said the constitution of Nigeria allows an individual to have a dual citizenship as an international passport showing Bola Ahmed Tinubu possesses Guinea Conakry passport surfaced online.
According to Fashola, the Nigerian constitution does not make a political office aspirant disentitled when such person is a dual citizen.
Recall that reports emerged over the weekend that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, owned a Guinea Conakry passport.
The revelation sent internet users into a frenzy over how the new leader of Africa’s largest economy lied to the nation’s electoral commission while under oath.
But reacting while speaking on Sunday night during an interview with Channels TV, Fashola who has been a longtime ally of Tinubu, said: “I know he carries a Nigerian passport; I don’t know about dual citizenship.
“I know he resided abroad when he went on exile, I don’t know if they gave me American citizenship. What has that got to do with the result of the election?”
He added: “The last time I checked. I think that Nigeria’s constitution allows you to have a dual citizenship.
“I will check. But I doubt that the Nigerian constitution makes you disentitled if you have dual citizenship, because the constitution allows you to have dual citizenship.”
However, the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on the issue of dual citizenship by public office holders and according to the passport, the former Lagos State Governor acquired the passport of Guinea Republic in 2015.
Section 137 (1) (a) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria provides “A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if 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.”
