By Ishaya Ibrahim
Labour Party presidential candidate in the last election, Peter Obi, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s certificate saga has given Nigerians the bad tag of forgers among uninformed commenters.
Obi, at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said the certificate issue has affected the average Nigerian within and outside the country.
His words: “To the outsiders, the entire Chicago University matter, as well as Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s many other lingering identity, question marks have further worsened Nigeria’s less than glorious image internationally.
“Uninformed outsiders now see every Nigerian as a fraudster, certificate forger, and identity thief. The controversy is unnecessary, and the implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided.”
Obi urged Tinubu to come clean by re-introducing himself to Nigerians.
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He said: “In my opinion, Chief Bola Tinubu should have saved the nation and himself from this protracted embarrassment and undue anxiety. Even this late in the day, however, Chief Bola Tinubu still owes the nation and the world a simple debt of obligation that only he can discharge. I call on him to immediately and personally mount the rostrum of his present high office to perform a simple task once and for all time. He should re-introduce himself to the nation he governs and to the world for the avoidance of further doubt.
“He should let the world know his name, nationality his place of birth, his parentage, the primary and secondary schools he attended with dates as well as the actual universities he attended and certificates obtained. He should indicate clearly where and when he did his National Youth Service. In addition, if at any time he has had a change of name, he should clearly state so and the circumstances.”
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, had secured release of Tinubu’s education records from the CSU through a court subpoena against the disclosure by the President.
The released records, which came first on October 3, showed that Tinubu’s 1979 CSU certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was different from samples of the certificates the university issued to students that same year.
Atiku, on Thursday, October 5, 2023, addressed a world press conference on the certificate saga.