Copies of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination forms by which Senate
President Bukola Saraki ran for the National Assembly election has been obtained, and they
unveil a pattern of lies, evasion and misrepresentation of facts on
questions about his nationality and identity.
The documents come weeks after SaharaReporters provided evidence showing that Mr. Saraki is a citizen of the United Kingdom.
For instance, under “Personal particulars of persons seeking election,” the man who would become Senate President declared his nationality to be “Nigerian.” However, when answering the question,
“Did you change your
nationality in the past?” he indicated “NIL
READ MORE AFTER THE CUT
As first exposed by SaharaReporters, Mr. Saraki’s passport clearly
indicates that he holds citizenship of United Kingdom. Perhaps on
account of this, Mr. Saraki left blank Question 10, on whether the
prospective candidate has “made a declaration of allegiance to any other
country.”
Mr. Saraki’s answers to these questions indicate that he is concealing
the fact that he is a bonafide citizen of the United Kingdom. Knowing
that it would hurt his political ambitions, he deliberately concealed
the fact that he has changed the profile of his nationality in the past.
On the forms, Mr. Saraki also completely evaded question 12, which
asked the candidate to specify his place of birth. Rather than declare
his place of birth to be Hampstead North, of the Metropolitan Bourough
of Hampstead in the United Kingdom, Mr. Saraki craftily repeated his
date of birth: 19-12-1962. For some reason, INEC did not invalidate the
form as it should have.
On the question of the circumstances of his birth, Mr. Saraki has
also played fast and loose with the facts. SaharaReporters has obtained
a copy of his birth certificate, which proves that he was born on
December 19, 1962 as Olubukola Adebisi Olabowale Saraki but curiously
Mr. Saraki’s birth was not registered until a year later in 1963. This
is contrary to his name on his INEC documents, which he wrote as
Abubakar Bukola Saraki. Our sources who have knowledge of the story say
he gave himself this version in an effort to appeal to northern voters
in Kwara State.
SaharaReporters contacted Mr. Saraki and his aides to offer an
opportunity to them to explain the systemic evasion and
misrepresentation of his nationality and citizenship in his election
documents, contrary to the law. Nobody appeared willing to provide any
explanation as to the discrepancies in his official records and claims
as listed in this and previous SaharaReporters stories.
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