By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Amid a hail of divergent views, the Chicago State University (CSU) in the USA yesterday released the academic records of President Bola Tinubu to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The documents were handed over to the Atiku team.
It also reportedly contained Tinubu’s admission records and a letter dated 27th June 2022, “confirming that he attended the university from August 1977 to June 1979, majoring in accounting. The letter said Tinubu was awarded Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Honours on 22nd June 1979”.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 and 2023 elections, had approached a United States court for the Northern District of Illinois to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records.
He argued that it would boost his suit challenging the president’s election in the February 25 poll.
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The PDP candidate had requested the documents for use at the Supreme Court to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from CSU in 1979 and submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the 2023 presidential election.
Immediately after the handing over, there was a gale of reactions in the media space both in favour and against the matter.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, took the time off to lambast Atiku.
He wrote on the online media platform X (Twitter) that, having proven his attendance and “From the responses by Chicago State University, ATIKU’s journey to Chicago and back has been a journey to nowhere, a fruitless exercise and an odyssey in self-humiliation. President Tinubu and Nigerians deserve an unreserved apology from him.”
Keyamo had earlier stated, ‘Game over for Atiku’. According to him, “The latest events have shown that the game is over for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.”
He noted that losing the 2023 presidential election hurt Atiku more than previous polls, and advised the presidential candidate to retire from politics, following the release of Tinubu’s academic records by the CSU.
In a post on X, the minister said Atiku was holding on “to every single straw that resembles a lifeline”.
Keyamo noted that the university had confirmed that Tinubu attended the institution.
“It is now obvious that the loss of ATIKU Abubakar at the last polls hurt him deeply more than all his previous losses put together; it has since sent him spinning like a drunkard, lashing out to hold on to every single straw that resembles a lifeline.
“This is bad for his health; he should accept that this game is over (as the Chicago State University responses have shown) and retire peacefully to his famed abode. Those around him have a role to play in this,” the minister said.
On his part, former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, and an Atiku loyalist said though he acknowledged that Tinubu graduated from the CSU, he would still be siding with his man, former Nigerian vice-president, Atiku.
Taking a different view, Omokri, who was a presidential aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, rather accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and television programme anchor, Rufai Oseni, of being the cause of the ‘misinformation’ about the alleged certificate forgery saga.
He wrote, with a posted picture on the X platform, “Peter Obi and Rufai Oseni: The faces of the two men who deceived the nation about Bola Tinubu’s academic qualifications being denied by Chicago State University. These men are liars.
“They made good men believe them and go to court, only for Chicago State University to now acknowledge and validate Bola Tinubu’s academic credentials, exactly as I have been telling Nigerians since September 19, 2022, when I physically went to Chicago State University to verify the truth. Hold these lists responsible. Fake News must DIE if our democracy is to LIVE!”
To this, a respondent identified simply as Mister K@justkency, counter-tweeted, “To be fair, it was your principal, Atiku Abubakar, who went to court over this CSU certificate. You should have advised him not to go to court, or he doesn’t take your calls?”
Another carpeted Omokri; Winter Consigliere@Consig_liere penned: “@renoomokri has long been disowned by Atiku and the PDS; that’s why he (Reno) is fighting so hard to secure a seat in Tinubu’s government…”
Yet another respondent simply queried, @TweetsbyAJIBADE “Where is the Atiku now?” Somebody completed the route, “Comrade Ile Oba tojo@ObaTojo, “They (Atiku) will get the reward of deception”.
But a netizen in the mould of the anti-Tinubuists, Dr. Eyo Eyo, wrote at @Eyowhite3, “But why would BAT (Tinubu) seek a court injunction to withhold things to make the whole thing look like there was foul play?”
Another respondent tweeted at Jasper01@Jasperjnr01, “He is a politician and loves playing the game. You toss me around, I toss you around too”.
Another variant of scepticism came from another netizen who wrote, “LastBorn@Lminkaeel, “The question is not whether Tinubu CSU or not. The question is whether the CSU certificate he presented to INEC was officially issued by CSU or forged.”
Yesterday’s presentation of the documents to the Atiku team on the order of the US court, analysts say, represented an icing on the cake on a long-drawn war on certificate possession by the Nigerian sitting president.
Just this weekend, precisely on Saturday, Justice Nancy Maldonado, ruling in a US court, gave the CSU up till noon on Monday to deliver the documents to Atiku after dismissing Tinubu’s objection in the judgment.
Maldonado affirmed the September 20 decision of a magistrate judge of the court, Jeffery Gilbert, ordering the CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records as requested by Atiku.
She insisted Atiku had the right to have access to the records.
CSU presented the academic records to Atiku’s legal team on Monday. It was complemented by endless debates stretching to the wee hours of today, with rocking arguments mirroring the diverse opinions of whoever was throwing what can, and from what positions.
