Posted by After former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar levelled claims against All Progressives Congress (APC) President Bola Tinubu earlier on Thursday, the APC responded by saying it is unaffected by the allegations.
It has been asserted by the APC that Atiku holds Tinubu in high contempt because he holds Tinubu accountable for all of Atiku’s electoral failures in 2007, 2015, 2019, and this year.
Atiku reportedly made various claims against Tinubu in a news conference in Abuja, citing documents he got from Chicago State University,
In a statement released by the APC and signed by its National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, the party claimed that Atiku had offered nothing but the “pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions, and deliberate falsehood” regarding Tinubu’s educational background.
According to the party, Atiku has been campaigning for the presidency of Nigeria for weeks, showing “utter desperation.”
Atiku’s news conference, according to the APC, was an attempt to manipulate public opinion and put undue pressure on the Supreme Court.
We think Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should have had more respect for the highest court before publicly commenting on a case that he has asked the court to decide.
Atiku blames Tinubu for his electoral failures in 2007, 2015, 2019, and this year, and that anger was on full display during his question-and-answer session at the Yar’Adua Centre.
“Further, he indicated that the ‘F’ on President Bola Tinubu’s certificate from Southwest College, a feeder institution to CSU, was a clerical error, which of course may happen.
He reemphasized that Southwest College served as an important pipeline to Colorado State University. A man named Bola Ahmed Tinubu was admitted, he said, because of his South West College transcript. President Bola Tinubu’s studies at CSU and Southwest College, according to Westberg, were parallel.
Accounting, Westberg testified further, is a difficult academic discipline. No one would have succeeded at CSU without first completing the foundational coursework.
“President Tinubu did quite well at California State University. He finished school at the top of his class. According to him, this proves that the individual who went to and graduated from both CSU and Southwest College is the same person.
In an affidavit filed with an Illinois court before his deposition, he stated, “Chicago State University provided a diploma to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and subsequently provided a certified (or official) copy of that diploma.” This is despite the fact that CSU has had at least six Registrars since 1979. Both of these degrees from Chicago State University are legitimate and recognized worldwide.
He added that the discrepancy between the diploma and the official copy of the transcript was probably due to human error. The certified copy’s graduation date was likely entered by hand and is therefore subject to error.
Westberg said that unlike other US universities, CSU does not give replacement credentials to its students because these documents are often issued by independent third parties. Transcripts are still the standard for proving enrollment and completion.
Mr. Westberg never once testified that President Bola Tinubu’s election certificate, which he submitted to INEC, was a forgery.
Any hints or suggestions made in this direction are completely fictitious. President Tinubu could not have fabricated a degree he honestly earned at a reputable university since there would have been no benefit to doing so and hence no reason to commit academic fraud.
“In desperation, unbecoming of a statesman who once occupied the second highest office in the land, the PDP candidate in the last election 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.
We view Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s recent fishing trip to the United States as the final gasp of a presidential aspirant who has been roundly rejected by the Nigerian people. Abubakar has the dubious distinction of being Nigeria’s most prolific election loss and longest running presidential candidate in history.
“While we sympathize with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for wasting his life chasing an unrealized goal, we strongly condemn the perfidious course he has followed and the needless unfavorable exposure of Nigeria and the institution of the Presidency in foreign country.
“Just for the record, we wish to provide some clarity on the matter of Mr. Caleb Westberg’s deposition last Tuesday under oath at the Chicago office of Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, in an effort to protect naive Nigerians from the barrage of untruths, distortions, and campaign of misinformation being dished out by Atiku and his PDP.” In his deposition, Mr. Westberg made it quite clear that President Bola Tinubu attended and graduated with honors from Chicago State University.
We may sum up his answers to the rest of the questions with the following: Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current President of Nigeria, is the same individual who studied at Chicago State University.