Nigeria Elections: Atiku Asks Bola Tinubu To Come Clean On Academic Record

The Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has urged President Bola Tinubu to come out clean over his academic records.

Atiku sent the social media space into a meltdown on Sunday, August 27, when he challenged Tinubu over his primary and secondary school education claims. The PDP chieftain shared a cryptic post on his X (formerly Twitter) verified account. He wrote: “I woke up this morning wondering how we got to this cul de sac. In 1999, Tinubu claimed he attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, before proceeding to Children’s Home School in Ibadan. “According to him, his next port of call in his educational journey was Government College Ibadan and Richard Daley College and Chicago State University in the United States. “Curiously, in 2023, Tinubu settled with attending only Chicago State University in the United States. “I am scratching my head. How is that possible? Methinks that all well-meaning Nigerians should be as confused as I am with Tinubu’s declaration that he had no primary and secondary education, yet he has a university degree. “You may wish to #AskTinubu how he attained this feat, so that we can learn from his ingenuity.” https://twitter.com/atiku/status/1695751775238623419 Nigerian outlet Punch reported that a separate case No. 23-5099 (N. D. III.) had been filed in a U.S. District Court of Illinois against Tinubu. It was gathered that it differs from the one requesting Tinubu’s academic records, which the former Lagos State governor claimed he bagged a degree in Business Administration from the Chicago State University. Mr Atiku’s counsel in the US, Angela Liu, disclosed that the Chicago State University provided two similar certificates that Tinubu attended its institution. She noted that while one had three different signatures, only two individuals signed the other one. Liu said while three people signed the first certificate, the other was signed by two individuals. According to her, one document asserts that Tinubu was issued the certificate on June 22, 1979, and another suggests that the President received the degree on June 27, 1979.

VON DG Slams Atiku

Meanwhile, Osita Okechukwu, Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), criticized Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, over alleged false claims about the February 25 presidential poll. In a statement on Sunday in Abuja, Okechukwu stated that Atiku’s desperation and crass opportunism led to PDP’s defeat at the polls, not Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, as he claimed. He pleaded with Atiku to retire honourably from active politics, instead of playing the sore loser and sulking publicly with false narratives.