2023 Poll: US Immigration Lawyer Testifies Against Lagos Deputy Gov, Hamzat
A United States (U.S) Immigration Lawyer, Olubusayo Fasidi, on Thursday, told the Lagos State Election Petition Tribunal that Lagos Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat took an oath of allegiance to the U.S renouncing Nigerian citizenship.
Fasidi, a Nigerian, is a witness in the petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Gbadegbo Rhodes-Vivour, and the Labour Party on April 11 challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election and asking the Tribunal to nullify Sanwo-Olu’s re-election and declare him the winner
Led in evidence by Dr Olumide Ayeni (SAN), counsel to the petitioner, Rhodes-Vivour, the witness informed the Tribunal that Hamzat, the third respondent in the petition, also applied for naturalisation as contained in Forms 8CFR/337 and N400.
Consequently, Ayeni tendered the documents to the three-man Tribunal but Counsel to all the respondents objected, saying the reason for their objection would be included in their final written addresses.
During cross-examination by Mr Eric Ogiegor, Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the witness said an individual could enjoy dual citizenship.
She, however, said she was not aware of the provision of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution that dealt with dual citizenship and she was subpoenaed before the tribunal to explain U.S. law and not Nigeria’s Constitution.
Mr Bode Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to Hamzat and Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, asked the witness to disclose the jurisdiction and date Hamzat applied for naturalisation but she said she would not, because the information was protected by the Privacy Act of 1974.
In his cross-examination, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Counsel, Mr Norris Quakers, asked the witness if she was aware that Hamzat disclosed his American citizenship.
With the witness replying in the affirmative, Quakers thereafter argued that she only addressed issues of law and not those of facts.
The tribunal led by Justice Arum Ashom while admitting all the documents in evidence, ordered counsel to the respondents to include their objections in their final written addresses.
The other members of the tribunal, which adjourned the case until June 26 for the continuation of the hearing, are Justice Mikail Abdullahi and Justice l.P. Braimoh.
Earlier, Ayeni presented a result sheet from polling units in nine local government areas of the state to establish differences in some areas, against what is recorded on INEC’s Form EC 40A.
Counsel to INEC, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and APC objected to the admissibility of Form EC 40A, reserving reasons until their final written addresses. – With NAN reports
