The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, says he has been vindicated by the errors and inconsistencies in the academic records that President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
TheHintsNews reports that Atiku and Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi have demanded the disqualification of Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election on account of forgery allegations made against him before the Presidential Election Petition Court.
Recall that Tinubu’s lawyers on Wednesday in response to the petition of Atiku in a federal court in Chicago, Illinois admitted that there were errors in the academic certificate presented to INEC by the President, and blamed those errors on the clerk of Chicago State University (CSU).
Checks revealed that court documents submitted by Atiku’s lawyers both in the United States and Nigeria show disturbing discrepancies in the documents purportedly obtained by the Chicago State University pertaining to Tinubu’s academic records.
One of the documents, for instance, is the certified true copy of the certificate submitted by Tinubu to INEC on 17th June 2022, and according to Atiku’s lawyers, “this, purportedly, is the certificate issued to him by Chicago State University (CSU) showing that he attended the school, and evidencing the degree he was awarded.
“In another document is a copy of a letter dated September 22, 2022 from Mr. Caleb Westberg, the Registrar of CSU attaching a copy of the certificate issued to Bola Tinubu in recognition of the degree he was awarded by the university.
“There is another document, which is a copy of the certificate forwarded by Mr. Westberg, as mentioned above, in response to a subpoena that was issued to CSU in respect of Bola Tinubu’s academic qualifications and achievements.
“There is also a copy of the bio of Dr. Niva Lubin-Johnson. Dr. Lubin-Johnson was the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of CSU from January 2001 to December 2002.
“Also is a copy of the bio of Dr. Elnora D. Daniel. Dr. Daniel was the President of CSU from 1998 to 2008.”
However, upon further examination of these documents is that while they all speak to the same subject matter, which is Tinubu’s academic qualifications from the Chicago State University, they all bear different details.