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NYSC Saga: Kemi Adeosun Is Not A Nigerian – Adoke

Published

3 years ago

Jul 17, 2021.

Adoke also said he would have filed forgery-related charges against Adeosun, over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate scandal if he was still AGF

A former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has said a former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun could not be said to remain a Nigerian citizen, having earlier forfeited her citizenship.

Under the 1963 constitution, which was in force in 1967 when Adeosun was born, a person born to Nigerian parents in a foreign country, were allowed to enjoy dual citizenship up till when he or she clocked 21.

At 21 the person must renounce the citizenship of the foreign country or would forfeit his or her Nigerian citizenship.

The law remained the same under the 1979 constitution which was in force when Adeosun graduated from the university at the age of 22 in 1989.’

But Adeosun, who was born in the U.K., did not renounce her British citizenship when she clocked 21, therefore forfeiting her Nigerian citizenship at the time.

While commenting on the matter, Adoke argued that having lost her Nigerian citizenship when she was 21 by not renouncing her U.K. citizenship as expected under the 1979 constitution, Adeosun could not automatically regain her Nigerian citizenship under the 1999 constitution without going through any process.

“How did she regain her citizenship? Was that citizenship having regained, without going through a process? Can you regain something that has been forfeited? And even if we say so, does it mean it is as of right or she has to go through a process to regain her citizenship?

Kemi Adeosun

“So she has to tell us at what point she regained her citizenship and what step she took, to become a Nigerian citizen after she has lost her citizenship. The issue is not as simple as they are making it to look like.

“Some schools of thought will tell you that she is no longer a Nigerian citizen as of the time of the 1999 constitution came into operation.

“She forfeited her citizenship, and you cannot backdate that law. If she wants to become a Nigerian citizen, she has to become a Nigerian citizen by a process,” he told Premium Times.

He said citizenship “cannot be dormant which you can reactivate”, adding, “There is nothing like dormant citizenship”.

This, he said, raises the question of her being appointed to be a minister or a commissioner when she was not a Nigerian.

He added, “Because people want to help her, they are also being intellectually dubious by not going into the provisions of our law critically.

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“So, if she says she has become a citizen of Nigerian, at what point did she become a Nigerian citizen, and what was the process she went through to become a Nigerian citizen. This is a germane question she needs to be asked.

Adoke also said he would have filed forgery-related charges against Adeosun, over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate scandal if he was in office as the chief law officer.

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