Atiku To Tinubu: Nigeria Bigger Than any Individual

  

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February presidential election  has  announced that  Nigeria is bigger than any individual stating that  he undertook the pains to unravel the certificate saga involving President Bola Tinubu from Chicago State University (CSU) because of its great cost and for important reasons. 

The PDP candidate at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, stated that his generation worked hard to return the soldiers to the barracks and to defend the right of the people to elect and establish for a legitimate government in the country, adding that there are ground rules for legitimate governance in Nigeria.

He warned that the reputation of Nigeria as a nation is at stake by the discoveries from the Chicago State University.

Atiku added that the nation's election was "founded on the constitution from which leadership and government in Nigeria alone derive their legitimacy.

"The people look up to us as leaders to respect these rules and, where necessary, to defend them.

"Today, we are called upon again as a people to uphold and defend the ground rules of elective government in our country. The constitution prescribes the requirements for those who seek the highest elective office in the land. 

"It should not take months or, indeed, decades, for the institutions concerned to be able to do their work in establishing the credibility of any certificates presented by candidates for public office."

The former vice president said the quest was not for or about him, adding that it was a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, and accountability in public affairs. 

He called on the candidate of Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi, and his New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) counterpart Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and leaders of thought, to join him in the campaign to enshrine probity, accountability and the basic principles of justice, morality and uprightness in the country and in government. 

Atiku denied that he betrayed his friend, Tinubu who gave him platform to contest the 2007 presidential election, disclosing that their relationship had suffered set back since that election.

According to the former vice president, Tinubu supported Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of PDP because he refused to pick him as running mate.

Said he, "In 2007 we came together to form AC (Action Congress), and in Lagos at the convention I emerged and I got the ticket. 

"And after the convention, a few of our friends, met me and told me Bola want to be running mate. So, I asked of their opinion on Muslim - Muslim ticket. All of them said they objected. I asked them why didn't they tell him. 

"That was the end of our political relationship; it broke away as he went ahead and supported Yar'Adua. So where is the ground for him to say I betray him? 

"Those of you who are old enough will remember that in 2003 the PDP took over all the states in the South West, with exemption of Lagos. I stood before Obasanjo and said no, you can't take Lagos. And he left it."

He accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of crippling the logistics company he established during the military era.

"We are just contractors to the oil companies. As soon as Buhari came all those contracts were revoked and taken away from us till today, so I am not doing any government business."

The PDP candidate said he is not scared of any of his businesses been taken a way from me, adding that immediately after the election, he refused to receive a delegation of state governors who claimed they were sent by the president to dialogue with him.

Atiku's lawyer, Kalu Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who was also at the press conference, disclosed that there were discrepancies in President Tinubu's educational qualifications, from the documents disposed at the US court by the CSU.

Kalu who expressed the belief that the Supreme Court would allow PDP and Atiku to adduce fresh evidence in the petition challenging Tinubu's election, said they were told that the president forged the certificate he presented to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to him, the qualifying certificates from Southwest College, which he alleged the president used to secure admission into Chicago State University, "bears a female (name) indicating that the document does not belong to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

"Also, the CSU admission application form has a claim that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended Government College, Lagos and graduated in 1970 when indeed, the school was established in 1974.

"The  same document has it that the owner of that document is a black American and in the document Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied  having dual citizenship, which means it does not belong to him. 

"The same document under deposition says that the 'A' (in ) Bola A Tinubu is Ahmed. But the NYSC certificate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC  has Adekunle."

Kalu stated that the Supreme Court has held that it can allow a party to adduce fresh evidence, as long as certain conditions were met, and expressed confidence that from what transpired in the proceedings in US court, "that condition has already been met.

"So, as we speak, our legality law is very clear that a party at fault cannot be allowed to enjoy the fruit of his illegality."