Obi Wants More on Tinubu, BBC Says No Evidence of Forgery, Atiku Differs

•President has no identity problem, APC replies opposition as controversy deepens

Emmanuel Addeh and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, yesterday waded into the controversy surrounding the personal identity of President Bola Tinubu, demanding that it was time the Nigerian leader addressed the issues squarely.

Specifically, Obi who spoke during a world press conference in Abuja, urged Tinubu to personally speak to the issues surrounding his real name, birthplace, educational qualifications, his parentage, among others.

But in a swift reaction to Obi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday, said Tinubu has no identity problem, except the one contrived by Atiku Abubakar and Obi.

However yesterday,  a report by the ‘BBC Global Disinformation Team’ indicated that there was no evidence that the diploma Tinubu submitted to the country’s electoral commission was forged.

This was just as  Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, lambasted the BBC over its fact-check report on the Tinubu certificate saga.

Since his days as the governor of Lagos State, the issue of Tinubu’s personal  identity has been a matter of dispute, sometimes ending in the courts.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, had approached the Chicago State University (CSU), where the Nigerian leader claimed to have graduated from, to clear the matter once and for all.

While the University Registrar, Caleb Westberg, in a deposition had admitted that Tinubu indeed attended and graduated from CSU, he however wasn’t forthcoming on the certificate presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) by the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Tinubu had sought to block the release of the document until an American court ordered that the public interest should override any private reasons why the certificate should be withheld.

But in his intervention yesterday, Obi stated that he had personally become distressed as a Nigerian, having followed the “prolonged identity crisis,” that played out in the American court system and the controversy surrounding the authenticity of the CSU credentials.

The former Anambra governor pointed out that in addition to the barrage of media frenzy that the matter had triggered at home and abroad, he had had the  burden of responding to ‘embarrassing’ questions about the country’s overall credibility as a nation to privileged audiences and individuals both at home and abroad.

“To outsiders,   the entire   Chicago  State   University matter as well as 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 other Nigerian as a potential fraudster, certificate forger, or identity thief. The controversy is unnecessary just as the implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided.

“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,” the LP candidate maintained.

He therefore demanded that to save the country from the ongoing shameful debates, Tinubu needed to be upfront with his explanations, personally done by him, rather than his lackeys.

The politician cum businessman insisted that if the matter must be brought to a close, the president must begin to address the issues one after the other, to remove every doubt over who he claims to be versus who he really is.

“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 reintroduce 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 (Tinubu) should indicate clearly where and when he did his National Youth Service (NYSC). In addition, if at any time he has had a change of name, he should clearly state so and the circumstances. That, in itself, is no crime.

“This simple task should take no more than a few minutes. It requires no affidavits, prolonged court processes, spokespersons, agents, or surrogates. This task is one that only Chief Bola Tinubu himself through a direct personal statement can perform.

“He must perform this task urgently in order to lay to rest, once and for the last time, the many lingering doubts and valid speculations about his true identity,” Obi said.

According to Obi, a leader cannot outsource a clear unambiguous personal statement about his identity to political surrogates, social spokespersons, lawyers, or any other persons no matter how highly placed.

A matter of the personal identity of a leader, he reasoned, was too sensitive and central to the functions of the office Tinubu currently occupies to be toyed with, outsourced, or disguised under the cloak of officialdom.

To the former Anambra governor, the current matter was one about integrity,  morality, values, and the rule of law that defile the character of the nation and its people.

In his present capacity as a leader of a nation of over  200 million Nigerians,  Obi maintained that Tinubu’s true identity remains a  matter of grave national and international interest.

“The people deserve to know for a certainty the true identity of their leader and this overrides whatever rights he may have to personal privacy.  In addition,   the international community deserves to know the true identity of the person with whom they will engage in Nigeria,” he stated.

Besides, Obi argued that having stood for an election to the elevated public office of President of the   Federal  Republic of  Nigeria, Tinubu has implicitly undertaken to cede the rights of a private citizen in favour of a life of open disclosure of his true identity, and other circumstances that may be of public interest.

“His personal integrity demands no less. The legitimacy of the office he currently occupies demands that much and even more. Respect for the integrity and esteem of the Nigerian nation within the community of nations makes it even more incumbent and compulsory. It is time to do the right thing,” he affirmed.

Meanwhile, a report by the ‘BBC Global Disinformation Team’ has indicated that there was no evidence that the diploma Tinubu submitted to the country’s electoral commission was forged.

“Some social media users in Nigeria allege that the deposition and the diplomas released by CSU confirm that the diploma submitted to INEC by Mr Tinubu was forged. This claim was also repeated by one of Mr Abubakar’s lawyers, Kalu Kalu, at a press conference last week. We found there was no evidence to support this claim,” the report stated.

It stressed that the allegations on social media were based on a comparison between the document Tinubu submitted to INEC and the 1979 diplomas released by CSU.

“However, while Mr Westberg agreed with Ms Liu that the diploma in question does not look like the samples from 1979, he stated that the certificate actually looks like three of the diplomas CSU released to Mr Abubakar. Our analysis confirms this.

“It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s.

“Mr Westberg said the template of CSU’s diploma has changed several times over the years. He said any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated.

“As such, if Mr Tinubu had reordered his diploma in the late 1990s, what he would have been given would look like what was obtainable then…Diplomas CSU issued to students in 1998 and 1999. The one from 1998 appears identical to the diploma Mr Tinubu submitted to INEC,” it added.

Another claim it said, was that the diploma Tinubu submitted was not from CSU as its diplomas do not include the phrase “with honors” under the degree name.

“But the BBC found that while this was not reflected in the other diplomas released by CSU, it does appears in Mr Tinubu’s diploma issued in the early 2000s, which was authenticated by Mr Westberg during his deposition.

“It has the words “with honors” – a match with the diploma with the same detail submitted by the president to INEC,” it noted.

On the controversy over gender, the BBC recalled that Westberg had stressed that there was no confusion about the person who attended CSU as he was a male named Bola A. Tinubu, saying the university used other factors other than the name to authenticate the student’s identity.

BBC said: “According to him, the Social Security Number (SSN) in the transcript from Southwest College matches what it has in other documents in which the student’s gender is clearly marked as male”

However, it admitted that the released documents did raise questions about  Tinubu’s birth date and the secondary school he attended.

“One of the documents stated that Mr Tinubu attended Government College Lagos in 1970. However, information available on the school website stated that it was only founded in 1974.

“Aside from the gender discrepancy, the birth dates in some of the released documents differ from the official birth date of President Tinubu, which is 29 March 1952.

“His transcript from CSU has his date of birth as 29 March 1954. His undergraduate admissions application form has his date of birth as 29 March 1955,” the report said.

Tinubu Has No Identity Problem, APC Replies Atiku, Obi

The APC insisted that Tinubu has no identity problem.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, stated this in a statement  while responding to the media briefing by Obi.

The dpokesperson said like a befuddled mind jolted out of deep slumber, Obi hugged a podium to echo a script authored by Atiku, who he described as  his senior partner and co-traveller on a dark ignominious alley to nowhere.

According to him, at his press conference,  Obi blathered on about  Tinubu’s identity and academic record, like a broken voice note of Atiku Abubakar, cutting a pitiful profile as though forced to read a prepared was by his unimaginative handlers, and mendacious associates in the PDP.

Morka added: “Unwilling to miss out in the orchestrated campaign of calumny against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his certificate from the Chicago State University, Obi jumped on the tailboard of Atiku’s bandwagon to satisfy his uncanny and insatiable thirst for cheap media attention, long after his Labour Party had dissociated itself from a bogus call to action by the former Vice President.”

He said Obi demanded that the president reintroduce himself to Nigerians, as though the 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him last February were all groggy when they made their free democratic choice.

Morka noted: “Mr. Obi must know that President Tinubu does not need a re-introduction. He does not have any identity problem, except the one contrived by the Atikus and Peters of our political firmament.

“The 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him into office were, and remain, aware of  his outstanding record and accomplishments as a defender of democracy, freedom, social and economic justice for over three decades. Nigerians know President Tinubu as a thoroughbred professional and former auditor and treasurer of Mobil Nigeria, now ExxonMobil.”

Morka emphasised that Nigerians know the president as a former Senator  where he served as Chairman of the influential Finance and Appropriations  Committee and they know  him as a former Governor of Lagos State who designed and paved the pathway to the growth and prosperity of present day Lagos, the fifth largest economy in Africa.

He maintained that Nigerians know who they voted for as the 16th President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The party spokesperson stressed that Nigerians  voted for him with full faith and confidence that his track record and wide competences would help in the re-engineering of the country’s economy for the good of the greatest number of Nigerians.

He noted that in marked contrast, Nigerians  have flatly and serially rejected Atiku and also denied Obi’s presidential bid in the last election.

Morka stated: “Beyond regaling Nigerians with false and embarrassing statistics for which he has gained notoriety, Peter Obi cannot be said to be known for any outstanding performance as governor of Anambra State for eight years with no worthy legacy standing to his name. 

“As for President Tinubu’s academic record at the Chicago State University, the facts are clear and settled except for those political jaundiced by the trauma of electoral defeat. 

“The  Chicago State University has unequivocally stated over and over again, and in a deposition, under oath, by the Registrar, Caleb Westberg that President Tinubu attended the school and graduated with Honours.

“Nigerians are now familiar with stellar academic performance of President Tinubu as evidenced by his transcript as released by the CSU with 18As, 10Bs and 3Cs grades.”

Morka added that It was disturbing and utterly contemptuous of the courts of the land for the duo of Atiku and Obi to rail and pollute the public space with the very same issues that they have submitted to the court for adjudication.

He said they have continued to perpetrate public deception, operating, simultaneously, as accusers and judges in their own base cause.

The ruling party condemned “the sordid and disgraceful attempt by Obi, Atiku and their cheerleaders to use the mainstream and social media to intimidate the judiciary, incite the public to violence, and disparage Justices of the Appeal and Supreme Court.”

The party urged  all well meaning Nigerians to condemn this anti-democratic and irresponsible conduct of both political naggers.

Morka said the party’s team of lawyers stand advised to explore all available judicial mechanisms towards bringing  Obi and Atiku  to justice for their ceaseless contemptuous conduct.

“In our democracy, the office of the President is not filled by intimidation, blackmail or reckless self help. It is filled by the people, by their lawful votes at the polls just as they did on February 25, 2023 when they elected Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

Atiku’s Aide Knocks BBC over Report

Meanwhile, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, has lambasted the BBC over its fact-check report wherein it stated that there was no evidence to show that President Bola Tinubu’s Chicago State University was forged.

In a statement on yesterday, Shaibu described the resort as a hatchet job, adding that the outrage it had solicited from the generality of Nigerians was enough evidence to show that the BBC goofed.

Atiku’s aide said the BBC’s move was not surprising as it was in line with a previous statement he had issued wherein he had revealed that the Tinubu administration was set to unleash its full propaganda programme.

He said, “Sometime last week, when the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) issued a final warning to Arise News TV, we pointed out that the Tinubu administration was on the verge of launching a full blown propaganda and also intimidating ‘uncooperative’ media houses into discrediting and downplaying the CSU scandal. Sadly, we never imagined that it would be the BBC that would become the willing tool.

“It is unconscionable, appalling and preposterous that in this current information age, a foreign medium of repute could try to bamboozle Nigerians with a jaundiced report when the details are clear for everyone to see.

“Thank God young Nigerians have begun filing complaints against the hack writers who decided to soil their names for a bowl of porridge.

“We are not ignorant of the machinations of the BBC and its bias towards the current government. It is unfortunate that the BBC is not upholding the same standards as they would uphold in the UK where a Prime Minister was forced out of office for hosting a party during COVID-19. In 2009, columnist Mehdi Hasan wrote in the New Statesman that the BBC was biased ‘towards power and privilege, tradition and orthodoxy.’

“It is no wonder that in the last one year, the only news medium that was given exclusive access to interview Tinubu was the BBC. It is sickening that the BBC has decided to surrender its platform to a man who was accused of illegal drug trafficking in the United States.

“In the so-called fact-check report, the BBC decided to bury in the last paragraphs the fact that Tinubu claimed to have attended Government College, Lagos in 1970 when the school was established in 1974. Why didn’t these so-called fact-checkers reflect it on their headline?

“What is the essence of the report when it failed to uncover the most critical questions? If this report was aimed at fact-checking, it should have mentioned the year the certificate was obtained by Tinubu from the CSU and if the one he submitted to INEC is the same one he received from CSU.

“Tinubu said at Chatham House that he had received a replacement from CSU when the school said in unambiguous terms that he had not done so. What was the date he applied for his INEC replacement certificate from CSU, and when was it issued to him?

“The investigation was clearly carried out with a predetermined goal, which was to clear Tinubu. But let us ask the BBC if they would employ anyone who has had a case of drug trafficking in the US before and if he had three dates of birth in his official records as well as two different genders as well as attending a secondary school before it was established.”

Shaibu called on the BBC and other fact-checkers to be more circumspect, adding that their job was too sensitive to entertain errors.

“On November 28, 2022, Africa Check, one of the highly funded fact check organisations, claimed that the report by the opposition that Tinubu had lied that he attended Government College, Lagos was false.

“After Atiku Abubakar, through his daring court case, decided to blow open the lid, it turned out that the opposition was right all along. Till date, Africa Check has also not apologised for misleading the public. This is the new reality that we face. Who will fact-check the fact-checkers?”

Atiku’s aide advised media organisations to invest more in investigative journalism.

“If the BBC had invested in proper investigative journalism, it would have been the one uncovering some of Tinubu’s scandals instead of relying on Atiku for information on Tinubu’s certificates,” Shaibu said.

In the meantime, Shaibu  lambasted  Tinubu for holding just one cabinet meeting since taking office 135 days ago.

He said it was ironic that Tinubu, who has the largest cabinet in Nigeria’s history, had decided not to meet with them.

Atiku’s aide said, “Tinubu is obviously not ready for governance. After appointing 48 ministers – the highest in history – he has decided not to be meeting with them. This contravenes Section 148(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which expressly provides that the President shall hold regular meetings with the Vice President and ministers for the purposes of determining domestic and foreign policies of the government.

“It is bad enough that a man who claimed he would hit the ground running from day one took over 60 days to name all his ministers and took 84 days to inaugurate them. Even now, he has held only one cabinet meeting since the inauguration of the cabinet. For a man who has been gallivanting all over the place purportedly in search of foreign investors, it is laughable that he cannot even meet with his own team at home. Meanwhile, concerned Nigerians are asking #WhereIsTinubu?

“The reason is simple, though. His administration has brought nothing but untold hardship to Nigerians, including inflation, a very weak currency, and insecurity. He and his appointees are clueless. Hence, they have nothing to discuss.”