On Thursday, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election for governor of Lagos State, accused the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, of reneging on his Nigerian citizenship when he obtained an American passport.
One of Rhodes-Vivour's expert witnesses at the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the Ikeja region of the state made the claim.
Mrs. Olubusayo Fasidi, a witness who claimed to be an immigration lawyer in the United States, told the Tribunal that Hamzat swore an oath of allegiance to the United States and gave up his Nigerian citizenship.
In addition, Fasidi testified that the petitioner's attorney, Dr. Olumide Ayeni (SAN), submitted an application for naturalization on Forms 8CFR/337 and N400.
The documents were presented by Ayeni to the three-person Tribunal headed by Justice Arum Ashom.
However, counsel for each Respondent objected to the move, stating that their reasons would be included in their final written addresses.
Justices L. P. Braimoh and Mikail Abdullahi are the other members of the Tribunal.
The witness acknowledged that a person could have dual citizenship while being cross-examined by Eric Ogiegor, the lawyer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
She, on the other hand, stated that she was unaware of the dual citizenship provision in Nigeria's 1999 Constitution.
Fasidi claimed that she was summoned to testify before the Tribunal to discuss American law rather than Nigeria's constitution.
She stated that because the information was protected by the 1974 Privacy Act, she would not disclose the jurisdiction and date Hamzat applied for naturalization when the counsel for the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Hamzat, Bode Olanipekun (SAN), asked her to do so.
Norris Quakers, the lawyer for the All Progressives Congress (APC), asked the witness if she knew whether Hamzat disclosed his American citizenship, and she said yes.
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