The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to address Nigerians and the international community on his identity and the allegations of forgery and discrepancies in his university certificates at the Chicago State University (CSU).
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, October 11, Obi said the Chicago Court deposition and allegations of forgery against the President had further exacerbated the challenges faced by numerous Nigerians and the nation on the global stage.
The ICIR reports that the Chicago Court deposition and the forgery allegations have raised questions about Tinubu’s integrity. According to Obi, the gravity of these allegations cannot be underestimated, as they have implications not only within Nigeria but on the international stage.
“The controversy is unnecessary, just as the implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided. In my opinion, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu should have saved the nation and himself from this protracted embarrassment and undue anxiety. Even at this late in the day, however, Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu still owes the nation and the world a simple obligation only he can discharge.”
In his address, Obi called on Tinubu for an impartial disclosure of his identity and to re-introduce himself to Nigerians.
He also urged the President to indicate where he did his National Youth Service, adding that he should clearly give the account of his background.
“I therefore respectfully and humbly call on him to immediately personally mount the rostrum of his present high office to perform a simple task of once and for all times; he should reintroduce himself to the nation he governs and to the world for the avoidance of further doubts.”
The former Anambra governor also asked Tinubu to let the world know his full name, nationality, place of birth, parentage, details about the primary and secondary schools he attended along with their respective dates, and comprehensive information about the universities he attended, including the certificates obtained.
“In addition, if at any time if he had a change of name, he should say clearly and the circumstances. That itself is no crime. This is a simple task that will take only a few minutes. It requires no affidavit, spokespersons or surrogates. The task is one that only Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself, through a direct personal statement, can perform. He must perform this task urgently in order to lay to rest the many lingering doubts and speculations about his true identity.
“In his present capacity as a leader of a nation of over 200 million Nigerians, his true identity is a matter of grave national and international interest. The people deserve to know with certainty the true identity of their leader and this overrides whatever rights he may have to personal privacy. In addition, the international community deserves to know the true identity of the person with whom they will engage on Nigeria,” he added.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, had successfully obtained the release of Tinubu’s education records from the CSU through a court subpoena against the disclosure by the President.
He requested the documents to back his allegation of forgery of the CSU certificate against Tinubu.
Despite the court’s decision to reject the accusation of forgery against Tinubu, Atiku persisted with his case in the US court and sought official documents supporting his allegations, which he most likely will incorporate into his appeal at the Supreme Court.
The disclosed documents, initially released on Monday, October 2 and further emphasized in a deposition on Tuesday, October 4, revealed a discrepancy concerning Tinubu’s 1979 CSU certificate.
During the deposition, the CSU registrar also stated that he could not authenticate the certificate presented by Tinubu to INEC.
But the registrar affirmed that Tinubu graduated from the school.
The ICIR had, on October 5, reported how Atiku Abubakar called on relevant institutions to address the discrepancies in the certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Tinubu.
He said failure to do so put the nation’s image at stake and would give citizens a wrong image before the rest of the world.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M