- Says ex-VP harbours deep hatred towards Tinubu over his 2007, 2015, 2019, 2023 electoral losses
- Insists President graduated with honours from CSU
- What can end my battle with Tinubu – Atiku
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU
MAYOWA SAMUEL
The All Progressives Congress said it is unperturbed by the press conference addressed on Thursday by former Vice President and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.
A statement by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka said, “The press conference lacked purpose and delivered nothing except the pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions and deliberate falsehood on his infantile obsession with the academic record of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“For several weeks now, Nigerians and the world have watched with incredulity Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s display of utter desperation in his failed bid to become the President of Nigeria.
“Earlier today, he put his desperation in overdrive during his press conference where he addressed some of the issues in his appeal at the Supreme Court and bandying unproven charges against the President of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a calculated attempt to shamelessly whip up public sentiments and inordinately pressure the Supreme Court.
“We believe Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should have known better than to demonstrate gross contempt of the highest court by making public comments on a matter that he has submitted to the court for adjudication.”
Morka added, “The major takeaway from his Yar’Adua Centre show, especially at question time, was that Atiku harbours deep animosity towards Tinubu whom he believes was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year.
“In desperation, unbecoming of a statesman who once occupied the second highest office in the land, the PDP candidate in the last election has thrown every decency, decorum, dignity and national respectability out of the window on his purposeless judicial voyage of discovery to the United States in search of a magic wand for taking power against the will of the Nigerian electorate loudly expressed in last February’s presidential election.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar holds the unenviable title of Nigeria’s most prolific election loser and longest running presidential candidate in history, and we see his recent US fishing expedition as the last kick of a roundly rejected presidential aspirant.
“While we sympathize with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for spending a lifetime pursuing an unrealised dream, we strongly condemn the perfidious road he has taken and the needless negative exposure of Nigeria and the institution of the Presidency in foreign land”.
The party provided clarity on the matter of the deposition of Caleb Westberg, the Registrar of Chicago State University, last Tuesday under oath at the Chicago office of Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, to save unsuspecting Nigerians from barrage of untruths, distortions and campaign of misinformation being dished out by Atiku and his PDP
“Mr. Westberg was unmistaken and unambiguous in his deposition as to the fact that President Bola Tinubu graduated with honours from Chicago State University. He also emphatically provided clear answers on all other issues raised which we can sum this:
“That the person who is Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is the same person who attended Chicago State University.
“He confirmed that a certain gentleman called Adeniji who had come forward to say he was Tinubu’s classmate was in fact a student at CSU at the same time and they both ran for student union positions.
“Mr. Westberg said the diploma certificate, on which the PDP and Atiku seek to gaslight Nigerians and the whole world, is just a ceremonial document and what proved studentship at Chicago State University and in any American university is transcript, not certificate.
“Furthermore, he stated that the ‘F’ on the Southwest college certificate, a feeder institution to CSU, which President Bola Tinubu used to gain admission into CSU, was a clerical error which could of course happen. He reiterated that Southwest College was a major feeder source for CSU.
“He said the person admitted based on the transcript from South West College, was a male Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Westberg also added the courses taken by President Bola Tinubu at Southwest College were consistent with the courses he took at CSU.
“Westberg further deposed that Accounting is a rigorous field of study. Anyone who did not take the requisite courses at the lower levels could not have done well at CSU.
“In President Tinubu’s case, he did excellently well at CSU. He graduated with High Honours. That to him point to the fact that the person who attended and graduated from CSU was the same person who went to Southwest College
“He pointed out that CSU has had at least six Registrars since 1979 and in an affidavit at an Illinois court prior to the deposition said “Chicago State University provided a diploma to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and subsequently provided a certified (or official) copy of that diploma. Both are valid and authentic diplomas of Chicago State University.
“He said further that the difference in the date of award on the diploma versus the certified copy is likely the result of human error. The graduation date on the certified copy is typed in manually by a person and can be inaccurate.
“Mr. Westberg noted that by practice, CSU does not replace certificates for students as they are issued by 3rd party vendors which are also a common practice by other US universities. The proof of attendance and graduation remains the transcripts.
“There is also no part of Mr. Westberg’s deposition where he said that the certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to INEC for his election is fake or was forged. All the insinuations and innuendos in this regard are pure mischief and should be disregarded. President Tinubu could not have forged a University degree he honourably earned because there is no advantage to derive from such and no incentive to do so”.
Morka said it should now be clear to all Nigerians that despite Atiku’s lies before the Illinois Court that he wanted to use the discoveries in pursuit of his appeal at the Supreme Court, he has rather chosen to use same as an instrument of mischief and blackmail in clear contempt of the highest court of the land.
“We want to urge former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to graciously accept his defeat and quietly lick his political wound with some dignity. Nigerians rejected him at the polls, and he cannot get by subterfuge what he failed to get through the ballot box.
“Nigerians validly elected President Tinubu to revamp our economy, restore security, create jobs, provide transformative infrastructure, improve electricity supply and enhance the living conditions of the masses.
“President Tinubu has undertaken to serve Nigerians and he will not be distracted by a man who has consistently failed to achieve his self-serving and brutal quest to become Nigeria’s president,” he stated.
Why I parted ways, what can end my battle with Tinubu – Atiku
However, Atiku said on Thursday that he will drop his challenge to the victory of President Tinubu only when the Supreme Court rules.
Atiku, who came second in the election, had filed a petition challenging the poll’s outcome at the Presidential Tribunal, but the tribunal struck out his petition.
Despite the ruling, Atiku appealed to the Supreme Court and filed a case in a US court to compel the release of official documents related to Tinubu’s educational qualifications.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku said he was not ready to back down from his challenge.
“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 it when the court rules because there is no court higher than the Supreme Court,” Atiku said.
Atiku also denied that he was under pressure from Tinubu to drop the case.
He said that after the election, he learnt that the president sent a delegation of governors to contact him.
“I didn’t even let them come to my house,” Atiku said, a comment that attracted laughter in the hall.
He also added that he was not afraid that the government would go after his business interests, narrating how the licence of Intels, a logistics firm he co-owned, was revoked under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
“I don’t have any fear. I have never been intimidated by any government,” he said.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear Atiku’s appeal against Tinubu’s victory in the coming weeks.
While responding to a question from a journalist on a claim by presidential spokesman, Tope Ajayi, that he betrayed Tinubu by requesting the president’s academic records from Chicago State University, Atiku said he and Tinubu parted ways politically after the former Lagos State Governor wanted to be his running mate in 2007.
He said rather than betray the president, he stood up to his then principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and ensured that Lagos State did not fall to the political tsunami of PDP in 2003.
“Those of you who are old enough will also remember that in 2003, the PDP took over all the South Western states, with the exception of Lagos.
“I stood between Obasanjo and himself (Tinubu) and I said no, you (Obasanjo) can’t take over Lagos. Leave it and he (Obasanjo) left it. So, who is indebted to who? Is it me or Bola Ahmed Tinubu? I vehemently deny that I stabbed Tinubu in the back.
“I beg to disagree (on a betrayal allegation) with Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yes, it is true that in 2007 we came together to form an alliance in Lagos, and at the convention, I contested and got the ticket on merit. After I got the ticket, he sent about 5 or 6 seniors – some of them are here – I can even name them but I don’t want to embarrass them.
“They met me and said to me that Bola wanted to be my running mate. I said to them, gentlemen, you’re all old enough, and apparently, virtually all of you are Christians with the exception of one person. What will be your reaction to having a Muslim-Muslim ticket?
“All of them said we totally objected to it and I said why didn’t you tell him when he was giving you the message that look Mr. Tinubu, the message you’re sending us, we don’t seem to agree with you on it (Muslim-Muslim ticket). Why are you coming to me then? And that was the end of our political relationship. We broke up, so what is the ground for him to say that I betrayed him?
“Till today, I won’t do a Muslim-Muslim ticket; I don’t have to be president; we are a multi-ethnic and multi-religious people, our government must reflect our diversity and our composition must reflect the same.
“Tinubu supported Umaru Yar’adua in 2007. There are other things which I will not want to go into,” the former vice president said.
Atiku also called on the 2023 presidential candidates of the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, respectively, to join him in fighting for justice for the country.
“This quest is not for or about Atiku Abubakar; it’s a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, justice, and accountability in our public affairs.
“In line with this, let me call on all well-meaning Nigerians, leaders of thought, religious, traditional, community, and political leaders.
“In particular, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP, leaders of political parties in Nigeria, and every single person who loves this country as I do, and who wishes nothing but the best for this country to join me in this campaign to enshrine accountability, and the basic principles of justice, morality, and uprightness in our country and in our government,” he urged.
