By Chimaobi Afiauwa, Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has decried the reputational damage the controversies surrounding the credentials of President Bola Tinubu would do to the country.
Atiku, in his persistence to appeal the tribunal judgment that upheld President Tinubu’s victory at the February 25 polls, had secured a court order in the faraway United States, compelling the Chicago State University to release the academic records of the president to him.
MUK TV recalls that the release of President Tinubu’s academic records has brought to the fore a couple of discrepancies on his credentials, leading to the allegation of certificate forgery and a back-and-forth argument about whether the president was qualified to run for the number one office in the land in the first place.
But while many see Atiku’s action as an act of political vendetta, the former Vice President said the fight to uncover the truth behind Tinubu’s certificate is not about him but about Nigerians and the country at large.
Speaking at the World Press Conference in Abuja on Thursday, a few days after he obtained the university records of Tinubu from Chicago State University, he maintained that the “constitution prescribes the requirements for those who seek to contest political offices.”
Atiku argued that the controversies surrounding Tinubu’s CSU certificate “affect Nigerians everywhere,” declaring that the “reputation of our country is at stake.”
He charged Nigerians to stand firm and uphold the constitution, noting that the issue at stake requires Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the principles of constitutionalism.
For the progress he has made in unraveling the age-long mystery behind Tinubu’s certificates, Atiku paid tribute to the late legal icon, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who first drew public attention to the matter, adding that “we have brought definitive answers to an issue” that has defied understanding for many years.
