A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has blamed the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party presidential flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, for embarrassing Nigeria with an alleged certificate scandal.
The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Political Parties for Good Governance said the inquiry into President Bola Tinubu’s certificate at Chicago State University in the United States was an embarrassment to the nation and the PDP presidential candidate.
Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the national convener of the coalition, Dr Ogbole Lilian, expressed disappointment that the former vice president could go such an extra mile.
She opined that a man with such a character should not be entrusted with leadership.
She maintained that the inquiry into Tinubu’s certificate dragged the President and the nation’s image into the mud.
She stressed that the CSOs will not sit back and watch more dramas unfold as they are stakeholders in the business of nation-building.
“We are not shocked or perplexed that Atiku is going to such lengths because he has always been a bad loser and an undependable ally. He is definitely not the man we can comfortably entrust Nigeria to, given his appalling and nauseating leadership antecedents.
“The fact that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar serially lost his bid to become the President of Nigeria isn’t enough reason for him to deliberately drag the image of Nigeria and that of the coveted office of the Vice President, which he once occupied, in the mud. This is unacceptable to us, and we will not sit back and watch him do such things.
“As stakeholders in the business of nation-building, we wish to use this medium to call on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to utilise the authority conferred on him by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended to protect the image and interest of the country by stripping Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the National Honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON),” Leadership quoted her as saying.
