ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Peter Obi of the Labour Party has expressed his concerns about the ongoing controversy surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s alleged Chicago State University (CSU) certificate forgery.
He believes that this controversy reflects poorly on Nigerians in the international community and has urged President Tinubu to provide clarity regarding his identity.
Obi stated, “Uninformed outsiders now see Nigerians as fraudsters, certificate forgers, or identity thieves. The controversy is unnecessary, and the implicit global embarrassment could be avoided. In my opinion, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu should have saved the nation and himself from this.”
During a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obi challenged President Tinubu to address the lingering certificate scandal by disclosing the truth about his identity and educational background.
“Bola Tinubu should reintroduce himself to the nation he governs and tell the nation who he is, where he is from, where he went to school, and his real name. It’s a simple task that will take only a few minutes, and he must perform this task immediately,” emphasized Mr. Obi.
READ ALSO: Chicago Varsity Saga: Agbakoba Calls For Judicial Resolution, Says This Nonsense Must Stop
The decades-long controversy surrounding Mr. Tinubu’s Chicago State University certificate took a new turn when the U.S.-based institution, in a deposition, revealed that Mr. Tinubu had presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This revelation led to a wave of reactions among Nigerians, with many calling for Tinubu’s removal in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution. Section 137 (1)(j) of the Constitution explicitly states that a person who presents a forged certificate to the INEC cannot be legitimately elected as the President of Nigeria.
In August, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party took the issue to the U.S. court, seeking to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records, a controversy that had been shrouded in secrecy for decades.
Tinubu resisted this, arguing that releasing his academic records would cause irreparable damage. Nevertheless, Judge Nancy Maldonado ordered CSU to release Tinubu’s records, leading to the deposition that exposed the alleged forgery.
Atiku, in a global press conference last Thursday, asserted that he would not back down in his pursuit of justice to safeguard Nigeria’s image, and he has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, presenting the new evidence of certificate forgery from CSU’s deposition.