Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 election, has given condition to drop his “fight” against President Bola Tinubu.
Atiku said Tinubu forged the Chicago State University certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during his filing for the 2023 election.
Atiku, who came second in the election, had challenged the victory of the president in court, but lost as the Presidential Tribunal, struck out his petition.
The allegation of forgery was one of those dismissed by the presidential election court. Despite the court’s ruling, Atiku continued his case at the US court, which eventually ordered release of official documents Atiku is seeking to include in his appeal at the Supreme Court.
He had argued that there were discrepancies in the certificate Tinubu submitted to the INEC which should have rendered him ineligible to contest the election.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku said he will only “drop” his case against Tinubu’s academic records after the supreme court verdict..
He asked Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to join him in the fight to establish the authenticity of Tinubu’s certificate
“I have already filed my appeal against him at the Supreme Court. It is only when the court rules that he is right that I will drop this fight; in other words, I will drop this fight when the court rules because there is no court higher than the supreme court.”
Asked if he was under pressure from Tinubu to drop the case, Atiku said after the election, he learnt that a delegation of governors were sent by the president to reach out to him.
“I didn’t even let them come to my house,” said the PDP presidential candidate, a comment that attracted laugher in the hall
Speaking during the question and answer segment at the press conference alongside Atiku, Kalu Kalu, a lawyer and an aide to Atiku, said, “That Bola Ahmed Tinubu forged the certificate he presented to INEC.
“Two, that the qualifying certificate from South West College to Chicago State University bears a female, indicating that that document does not belong to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Three, the Chicago State University admission application form has a claim that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended government college Lagos and graduated in 1970 when indeed the school was established in 1974.”
He further said, “The same document has it that the owner of that document is a black American, and the document Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied having dual citizenship, which means it does not belong to him.
“Then the same document, oral deposition, says that the ‘A’, Bola A. Tinubu, is Ahmed, but the NYSC certificate Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC has Adekunle.
“I don’t know where the Adekunle and Ahmed emerged from.”
He argued that the document obtained from CSU is relevant, noting, “The Supreme Court has held that they can allow the parties to adduce fresh evidence as long as certain conditions are met.
“And from what transpired in the proceedings in the US court, that condition has already been met.
“So as we speak, our law is very clear that a party at fault can not be allowed to enjoy the fruit of his illegality.”
