Atiku’s mother was from Jigawa, Centenarian, Dutse Emirate official say

A man who claims to be 100 years old and an uncle of the late mother of Atiku Abubakar has stated that she is from Jigawar Sarki community in Jigawa State.

A similar claim was earlier stated by an official of the Dutse Emirate in Jigawa State.

Mr Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, was accused by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), at the Presidential Election Tribunal, that he was not born a Nigerian, and thus was not eligible to stand in the election.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Monday that Mr Abubakar responded to the APC claims by stressing that he was born and raised a Nigerian and has the conditional right to contest for the Nigerian presidency.

On Tuesday, the centenarian, Isyaku Adamu, told journalists who visited the community that Mr Abubakar’s mother, Aisha, popularly called ‘Kande Yar-Malam’, married Mr Abubakar’s father after her first marriage crashed.

He said Mr Abubakar’s father, Garba, was a student coming from Sokoto to Dutse in search of Islamic knowledge when he met and later married her.

“He settled at our house, popularly called ‘Gidan Malamai’ (Scholars’ House). There, he met and married Kande and took her to present day Adamawa State where Mr Abubakar was born.

“Mr Abubakar’s mother, Kande, was junior to Alhaji Ali and Azumi; they are all late now. Kande was our daughter and Mr Abubakar is our grandson. We are all Fulani by tribe; our forefathers are scholars here in Dutse, that’s why our home is called Gidan Malamai.”

The journalists had been directed by a high-ranking chief in Dutse Emirate Council to Jigawar Sarki, an ancient community in Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

The chief who only agreed to speak on the condition that he would not be identified had told the journalists upon enquiry that Mr Abubakar’s mother was a daughter of one late Abdullahi from Jigawar Sarki.

“As a royal father in Jigawa, I don’t want my name to be mentioned because they have politicised the whole issue. However, I can confirm that the late Mrs Kande was from Dutse and her uncle, Adamu Ma’aruf, was the chief imam of Dutse Central Mosque until he died five years after the creation of the state in 1991.”