The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has mocked President Bola Tinubu over the recent controversy surrounding his academic qualifications.
Mr Atiku had petitioned a US court for access to Mr Tinubu’s academic credentials at Chicago State University.
In a counter affidavit through his lawyers, Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, the president petitioned a US court in Illinois not to accept Abubakar’s request.
However, Mr Atiku through his lawyer in the United States, Angela Liu, is claiming that Chicago State University issued contradictory credentials to President Tinubu saying that he attended the university for two distinct years.
The lawyer revealed that the president allegedly received the diploma on June 27, 1979, whereas another academic credential from Mr Tinubu states he received the certificate on June 22, 1979.
The News.ng reported last week that Mr Tinubu blamed the Chicago State University clerk for the mistake of his certificate.
President Tinubu has stated that he obtained honours in Business Administration from Chicago State University in 1979, yet his educational history has been a source of contention.
In response to the concerns, Mr Atiku asked how it was possible for Mr. Tinubu to say he earned a better degree without leaving any trace of his secondary and elementary credentials in a post on his X platform, now known as Twitter.
His words
“I woke up this morning wondering how we got to this cul de sac. In 1999, @officialABAT claimed he attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, before proceeding to Children Home School in Ibadan,
“According to him, his next port of call in his educational journey was Government College Ibadan and Richard Daley College and Chicago State University in the United States. Curiously, in 2023, Tinubu settled with attending only @ChicagoState.
“I am scratching my head. How is that possible? Me thinks that all well-meaning Nigerians should be as confused as I am with Tinubu’s declaration that he had no primary and secondary education, yet he has a university degree.” He said
Reactions
Many Nigerians have since taken to their social media to react to Mr Atiku stance.
@abiodun_alao on X said “This is very unlike Atiku. Is Atiku hustling for impressions?
@__yellows said “It’s funny how all the losers from the previous election aren’t attempting to prove that they won the last elections. Instead, they’re resorting to various methods to fabricate falsehoods in order to disqualify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Well, I’ll stand firm here and tell you that you can spend all your money inventing lies, but PBAT stands as the people’s choice, and no sore loser can undermine his position.
@neyi_oyedeji said “Why is Atiku tweeting like one of those banger boys?