A media aide to the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Paul Ibe, and a youth leader in the party, Timothy Osadolor, have accused the All Progressives Congress of abandoning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his controversial academic records.
The duo made the comments while speaking with The Puch, on the latest development on the certificate saga.
It would be recalled that Atiku Abubakar had approached a US court, in the northern district of Illinois in Chicago, seeking an order compelling Chicago State University, to release the academic records of Tinubu.
Meanwhile, Tinubu’s credentials show that he graduated from CSU in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting, and management, and this was also confirmed by the institution, in its response to Atiku’s request, which was posted on the X handle of the PDP on Thursday, August 24, 2023.
However, there have been different allegations over the result, bordering on discrepancies with Tinubu’s certificate.
The former vice president had in the suit filed before the US district court, requested that the court should subpoena Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU.
Atiku maintained that the files will settle the argument surrounding Tinubu’s academic background, noting that, that will also help the election petition tribunal.
Meanwhile, Tinubu had allegedly claimed that a clerical error was responsible for disparities on the certificate issued to him, by the institution.
Filings by Tinubu’s lawyers, Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, Tinubu’s revealed that an unidentified university clerk, made the error about the date the school stated on his recently issued certificate, thereby creating “the appearance of differences.”
In his response to the case before a US court, the Director of Publicity for the APC, Bala Ibrahim, revealed that the ruling party had no problem with the PDP candidate’s quest if he followed the due process.
“If Chicago State University says Atiku has to go to court, I don’t know what their law says about that. But in Nigeria, I know the law gives freedom of information and gives people the right to seek information, especially the one that ought to be in the public domain. I don’t know the situation in the US and what is legally correct about it.
“But Atiku has the right to ask for information about his opponent, provided he does not go through it the wrong way. What is the wrong way can best be answered by those who are conversant with the law,” Ibrahim stated.
However, according to The Punch, Paul Ibe had claimed during an interview, that the position of the APC showed that it had abandoned Tinubu due to the many controversies surrounding him.
“We are not surprised that the party said they cannot have issues with us. This is an indication that they have abandoned him. We are talking of a man whose identity is enmeshed in controversy. But the truth is, who won’t be tired?
“Everything about the man is shrouded in controversy. He claimed that he attended Government College, Ibadan, but he never stepped foot in that school. The primary school Tinubu claimed he attended is non-existent.
“Now, he is saying that the 156-year-old Chicago State University made a clerical error in his academic records. If you are carrying a certificate with an error, that certificate is fake. So, he is admitting that he is carrying a fake certificate,” Ibe claimed.
Similarly, a member of the PDP’s National Executive Committee, Osadolor, stated that the APC director of publicity should be applauded for his position on the matter, alleging that he knows the truth, but he does not want to be quoted.
“He knows the truth but doesn’t want to be quoted. Their principal’s academic records are shrouded in mystery, and he knows the truth. But because it is not convenient for him to stay on the side of the truth, he chose to say he won’t join issues with Atiku,” Osadolor said.
