Certificate Dispute: Atiku questions Tinubu’s INEC certificate: THE Presidency has denied rumors that President Bola Tinubu’s certificate, which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, to run for president in 2023, was forged. EnoughInfo.com
In a statement released yesterday, Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said that Chicago State University, or CSU, had nowhere in its deposition acknowledged that the certificate Tinubu had provided to INEC was a forgery.
He went on to say that the university had admitted under oath that Tinubu had attended and graduated from the school and that it did not replace missing diplomas.
Ajayi said as Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared that President Tinubu’s government had no time to expend on “trivial matters” and called Atiku’s present efforts mere diversion.
Mr Paul Ibe Against This
But Mr. Paul Ibe, Special Advisor to former Vice President and PDP presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for 2023, rejected Tuggars’s stance as “irresponsible and shameful” and refuted Ajayi, claiming Tinubu falsified the documents based on Tuesday’s depositions on CSU’s records.
This occurred as the Labour Party, LP, expressed sadness that the issues surrounding Tinubu’s academic credentials were casting doubt on Nigeria’s standing in the international community and said that it was waiting for the supreme court to rule on the matter before making a final judgment.
Ajayi’s response follows rumors that Chicago State University said in its evidence that the Nigerian President had given the INEC a fake degree certificate when he submitted his application to become the country’s leader in June 2022. Flash flood in India leaves atleast 10 dead and 102 missing
In his response, Ajayi said that such assertions are untrue since a person cannot fabricate a certificate they already hold; instead, one can only forge something they do not have.
“The University insisted under oath that President Tinubu graduated with honours and even at that, replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors not the University.
“The claim that President Tinubu submitted a fake certificate to INEC does not make sense. A man cannot forge the academic records he possesses. You can only forge what you don’t have.”
Certificate Dispute: Atiku questions Tinubu’s INEC certificate: Yusuf Tuggar’s Response – The Minister Of Foreign affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said that the president’s government does not have time to squander on such “trivial matters” and that they are diversions in light of the scandal surrounding President Tinubu’s academic records from the CSU.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, Tuggar stated that some of the president’s recent foreign trips are unaffected by the scandal.
It’s common to attempt to divert attention and imprison people on pointless matters rather than addressing the pressing concerns of progress. We’re short on time, so let’s not squander it,” he said.
He said that Muhammadu Buhari, a previous president, went through a similar dilemma about his educational background.
“Nobody is wasting time about certificate qualification for somebody who has been a governor of a state, served two terms, and has been on the national stage as a politician.
“You remember that (former) President Buhari had to go through the same thing, where people were actually questioning whether he went to secondary school or not. Someone who had classmates, was a captain; he was a head boy,” he said.
The minister claimed that none of the international meetings the president had attended and interacted with showed interest in the saga.
“The foreign leaders that we’ve been engaging and the international organizations clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such. We pay no mind to that,” Tuggar stated.
He continued by saying that Nigerians should not be disturbed by the certification. Because of the dire circumstances the country finds itself in right now and should instead focus on development, noting that the country’s population is expanding at a pace of 3% yearly.
We shouldn’t be spending time worrying about whether a certificate is complete, if a T is missing, or whether an I isn’t dotted, given the current economic difficulties. That shouldn’t be our main priority right now,” he said.
