Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, said it would be a fight to a finish with President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Coming seven months after the February 25 poll in which he finished second, Atiku said his legal battle to expose the “mysteries” surrounding the certificates of President Tinubu was to ensure that “ground rules for legitimate governance are upheld.”
At a crowded press conference in Abuja two days after the deposition by the Registrar of Chicago State University (CSU), Caleb Westberg, of Tinubu’s academic records at a United States (U.S.) court, the former vice president solicited the support of Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)’s counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to join his quest for “justice” in the certificate saga involving President Tinubu and in entrenching legitimate governance in the country, pointing out that the “reputation of Nigeria is at stake.”
Atiku had requested the release of President Tinubu’s certificate from CSU over suspicion that the certificate the former Lagos State governor submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may not be authentic.
According to Atiku, “this quest is not for or about Atiku Abubakar. It is a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, and accountability in our public affairs. In line with this, therefore, I am calling on all well-meaning Nigerians, leaders of thought, religious leaders, traditional leaders, community leaders, political leaders, and in particular Obi and Kwankwaso, and indeed, every single person who loves this country, as I do, and who wishes nothing but the best for the country, to join me in this campaign to enshrine probity, accountability and the basic principles of justice, morality and uprightness in our country and in our government.
“Today, we are called upon again as a people to uphold and defend the ground rules of elective government in our country. The Constitution prescribes the requirements for those who seek the highest elective office in the land. It is nothing personal.”
Atiku, who vowed not to stop the fight until the Supreme Court gives judgment, alluded to some costs he had to bear while fighting for the legitimacy of government in Nigeria. “We undertook this journey at great cost and for important reasons. The ground rules for legitimate governance in our country need to be upheld, and the reputation of our country is at stake. That affects everyone, Nigerians everywhere.
“I will only drop the fight when the court rules; if the court rules that I am right, or if the court rules that he is right, that is the end of the fight. At the moment, we are at the Supreme Court and there is not any higher court than that.”
Atiku gave special thanks to persons who had fought for true and transparent democracy. “I should thank the lawyers both in Nigeria and in the United States, who have assisted us in bringing clarity and definitive answers to these issues that appear to have defied our institutions for nearly a quarter of a century. I also want to extend my gratitude to Nigerian citizens and friends of Nigeria both within and beyond the shores of our country for their patience as we have sought to find the facts and establish the truth.
“I wish to pay tribute to the late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who inspired us on this path of discovery. Now, he can truly rest in peace in the assurance that what he started about 23 years ago has come to fruition. Gani’s vindication today gives credence to the saying that no matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.”
While Tinubu and his supporters have repeatedly denied the accusations, Atiku said he would continue to seek justice over the matter. “Immediately after the elections, I was told there was a delegation of governors who claimed they were sent by the president, and I did not even allow them to get into my house – I didn’t,” Atiku added.
Atiku’s lawyer, Kalu Kalu (SAN), said the legal battle in the U.S. has revealed sufficient discoveries to upturn the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) at the Supreme Court, adding that the legal team discovered five major discrepancies in the academic records of President Tinubu.
He said Atiku’s team was able to establish that Tinubu committed forgery, has dual citizenship, and presented a NYSC certificate that has a different name from the one he submitted to INEC.
“One, on the certificate issued or released by CSU to Atiku’s lawyers, Tinubu forged the certificate he presented to INEC. Two, the qualifying certificate from Southwest College to CSU bears a female, therefore, the document does not belong to Tinubu. Third, CSU’s admission form has a claim that Tinubu attended Government College, Lagos, and graduated in 1970, when indeed that school was established in 1974.
“The same document has it that the owner of that document is a black American, and in the document, Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied having dual citizenship, which means it does not belong to him. Then, the same document, under deposition, says the ‘A’ in Bola A. Tinubu is Ahmed, but the NYSC certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC says the ‘A’ is Adekunle,” he said.
The allegation of forgery was one of those dismissed by the PEPT last month in the suit Atiku filed to challenge the election of Tinubu, who was sworn in as president in May.
On how useful Atiku’s findings will be in the Supreme Court, Kalu said: “It is very clear that from second authorities, the Supreme Court has held that they can accept a party to adduce fresh evidence, as long as certain conditions are met and from what transpired in the proceedings in U.S. courts, that condition is going to be met. So, as we speak, our law is very clear that a party at fault cannot be allowed to enjoy the fruit of his illegality.”
LP yesterday replied to Atiku who had earlier invited the party to join forces with it in his quest to seek justice over the February 25 presidential election. LP national publicity secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement, said they welcome every other interest willing to join with them in their pursuit of a nation where justice reigns.
“Our presidential candidate, Obi, is presently in the Supreme Court seeking to reclaim his stolen mandate and he is focused on that. He has been in the vanguard of ensuring a just nation where justice must be the watchword, and he will not stop until Nigeria achieves the leadership it truly deserves.”
He said Obi has advocated severally on the need for leaders to be good role models and to live a life worthy of emulation. “This he has done by publicly putting his credentials in the open for verification. Nigeria will get better when men of integrity and honour drive the affairs of the nation.”
Adding its voice to the development, a pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which the president had interest in, in the early days of the fourth republic, has called for the resignation of President Tinubu over allegations surrounding certificate forgery at CSU.
Executive Director, NADECO USA, Lloyd Ukwu, who made the call in a statement on Thursday, said the responsibility that was commensurate with the office of the President of Nigeria required utmost integrity and adherence to the rule of law.
He stated that the allegations of forgery, if proven true, not only cast a shadow over the presidency, but also undermine the credibility of Nigeria on the international stage.
He said: “You will recall that NADECO was the first to call for the resignation of Tinubu due to his alleged CSU certificate forgery. Today, we are reiterating this call. NADECO, being a prominent voice for democracy, transparency, and accountability in Nigeria, is deeply concerned about recent allegations regarding the authenticity of President Tinubu’s academic credentials. In the light of the evidence pointing towards forgery of a certificate from CSU, NADECO calls on Tinubu to resign from his position as the president of the most populous black country in the world.
“Forgery is a serious offence both in the United States and Nigeria, carrying severe legal consequences. According to U.S. law, the penalty for forgery can include imprisonment and fines. In Nigeria, forgery is a criminal offence under various sections of the Criminal Code and Penal Code, with potential penalties ranging from imprisonment to fines, depending on the circumstances.
“Furthermore, NADECO emphasises that leaders must set an example for the citizens they represent. Upholding the highest ethical standards is not only a legal requirement but a moral imperative for anyone holding public office. We urge Tinubu to step down voluntarily in the interest of preserving the integrity of the presidency and the nation.”
REACTING to the controversy, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said it is unfazed by Atiku’s comment that Tinubu does not deserve to be President of Nigeria. APC’s national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, in a statement, argued that Atiku lacked purpose and delivered nothing except what he termed “the pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions and deliberate falsehood on his infantile obsession with the academic record of President Tinubu.”
APC urged Atiku to graciously accept his defeat and quietly lick his political wound with some dignity. “Nigerians rejected him at the polls, and he cannot get by subterfuge what he failed to get through the ballot box,” it stressed.
Continuing, the party argued that Atiku’s quest to ridicule President Tinubu remains an exercise in futility: It noted: “For several weeks now, Nigerians and the world have watched with incredulity Atiku’s display of utter desperation in his failed bid to become the President of Nigeria.
“The major takeaway from his show, especially at question time, was that Atiku harbours deep animosity towards Tinubu whom he believes was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year.
“In desperation, unbecoming of a statesman who once occupied the second highest office in the land, the PDP candidate has thrown every decency, decorum, dignity and national respectability out the window on his purposeless judicial voyage of discovery to the United States in search of a magic wand for taking power against the will of the Nigerian electorate loudly expressed in last February’s presidential election.
“Just for the record, we wish to provide some clarity on the matter of the deposition of Mr. Caleb Westberg, the Registrar of CSU, under oath at the Chicago office of Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, to save unsuspecting Nigerians from barrage of untruths, distortions and campaign of misinformation being dished out by Atiku and his PDP.
“Westberg was unmistaken and unambiguous in his deposition as to the fact that President Tinubu graduated with honours from CSU. He also emphatically provided clear answers on all other issues raised, which we can sum as follows:
“That the person who is Nigeria’s president is the same person who attended CSU. He confirmed that a certain gentleman called Adeniji who had come forward to say he was Tinubu’s classmate was in fact a student at CSU at the same time and they both ran for student union positions.
“Westberg said the diploma certificate, on which the PDP and Atiku seek to gaslight Nigerians and the whole world, is just a ceremonial document and what proved studentship at Chicago State University and in any American university is transcript, not certificate.
“Furthermore, he stated that the ‘F’ on the Southwest college certificate, a feeder institution to CSU, which President Tinubu used to gain admission into CSU, was a clerical error which could of course happen. He said the person admitted based on the transcript from South West College, was a male Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Westberg also added the courses taken by President Tinubu at Southwest College were consistent with the courses he took at CSU.
“Westberg further deposed that Accounting is a rigorous field of study. Anyone who did not take the requisite courses at the lower levels could not have done well at CSU. In President Tinubu’s case, he did excellently well at CSU. He graduated with high honours. That to him points to the fact that the person who attended and graduated from CSU was the same person who went to Southwest College.
“He said further that the difference in the date of award on the diploma versus the certified copy is likely the result of human error. The graduation date on the certified copy is typed in manually by a person and can be inaccurate.
“There is also no part of Westberg’s deposition where he said that the certificate President Tinubu presented to INEC for his election is fake or was forged. All the insinuations and innuendos in this regard are pure mischief and should be disregarded. President Tinubu could not have forged a university degree he honourably earned because there is no advantage to derive from such and no incentive to do so.”
MEANWHILE, a human rights lawyer and former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Lagos, Dr Monday Ubani, has said that the Supreme Court may not admit fresh evidence in the case seeking the authenticity of President Tinubu’s university records.
Atiku had challenged CSU to release the academic records of Tinubu, stating his need for the records to be used in his appeal at the Supreme Court. In a series of events, Tinubu’s legal team had kicked against the request, after which a U.S. court sitting in Illinois, ordered the release.
However, Ubani, in an interview on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, on Thursday, said, “looking at the facts surrounding it, the issue of admissibility of fresh evidence by the appellate court is very rare, especially if that evidence was available to you while you were initiating the process.
“The Supreme Court will never, even the Court of Appeal will not, admit fresh evidence because their job is to review the decision of the court below and not to now evaluate any evidence. They don’t take any evidence but there are special circumstances under which fresh evidence can be admitted by the appellate court and that ground is maybe by the time you file the case that evidence was not available.”
Ubani, also a former second vice-president of the NBA, said Atiku’s legal team must be ready to convince the apex court on the admissibility of the fresh evidence. He, however, said that the Supreme Court may use a ‘discretionary power’ to either admit the fresh evidence or not.
