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| Atiku is legally deemed a citizen of Nigeria by birth, a legal practitioner, Aloy Ejimakor, has said. He added that this is “pursuant to the following: 1. The legal instrument with which northern Cameroon was included in Nigeria on May 31, 1961; Section 10 of the (repealed) 1963 Republican Constitution; and Section 6(1)(c), of Interpretation Act, which provides that ‘The repeal of an enactment shall not affect any RIGHT, privilege, obligation or liability accrued or incurred under the enactment.’
He said: “ Atiku’s Nigerian birthright accrued in 1961 (by the Instruments enacted pursuant to the Referendum) and in 1963 when it was ‘enacted by reference’ in the 1963 Constitution. “Thus, the repeal of the 1963 Constitution by the 1999 Constitution did not affect his previously accrued or vested Nigerian birthright.” He noted that “under the doctrine of ‘relation-back’, being borne in Nigeria means being borne in a Nigeria that ‘related-back’ to include those borne before 1960 in territories that later became part of Nigeria through referendum, same territories having been named in the 1999 Constitution as amongst the states and LGAs that constitute Nigeria.”
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