Atiku Accuses Presidency of Misrepresenting Facts in Tinubu’s Certificate Forgery Allegation

Atiku Accuses Presidency of Misrepresenting Facts in Tinubu’s Certificate Forgery Allegation.

Atiku Abubakar, the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, has reiterated his claims of certificate forgery against President Bola Tinubu.

He alleges that the presidency deliberately distorts facts to confuse the Nigerian public.

In his statement, Atiku asserts that some media aides of the President have been spreading a false narrative regarding the certificate controversy.

He accuses certain media outlets of consistently biasing their reporting to support a skewed interpretation of facts presented by Chicago State University (CSU).

Atiku recently obtained Tinubu’s academic records from CSU, which he intends to present as evidence at the Supreme Court. This follows a protracted legal battle in the United States to acquire these documents, which he alleges will demonstrate that the President submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The former Vice President, alongside his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, filed 86 grounds of appeal at the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, which upheld Tinubu’s victory.

Atiku’s statement references specific sections of the deposition publicly available, particularly highlighting exchanges with the Registrar of CSU, Caleb Westberg. These exchanges reveal that CSU confirmed the absence of a genuine and accurate copy of the diploma issued to Bola Tinubu in 1979, supporting Atiku’s allegations.

“On page 26 of the deposition which is publicly available, the Registrar of the Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, under oath, was asked a simple question; ‘CSU has determined that it does not have a true and correct copy of the diploma issued to Bola Tinubu is 1979, correct?’

To which the Registrar responded, “That’s correct.”

“Also, on page 27, a similar question was put to Mr. Westberg: ‘So, CSU, after going through every diploma, was unable to find an authentic copy of any diploma that CSU issued to Tinubu in 1979. Is that correct?’ The CSU Registrar, in his response, said: ‘We did not find any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Mr Tinubu,'” Ibe’s statement partly read.