By Bayo Davids
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu to clarify the discrepancies in his records.
Atiku in a statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe on Wednesday clarified that Siddiq Abubakar on his West Africa Examination Council certificate was his former name.
PointblankNews.com reports that after the former vice president’s world press conference, where some of his aides alleged that President Bola Tinubu forged his Chicago State University academic records, Atiku’s records are thoroughly being scrutinized on social media by members of the All Progress Congress (APC).
It would be recalled that a member of the APC, Ayekoto Akindele through his Facebook page queried “At what point did the new name “Atiku Abubakar” changed to “Siddiq Abubakar” which is the name written on the West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificates presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and when did “Siddiq Abubakar” changed back to Atiku Abubakar which is now his current name?”
Atiku who described the inquiries as being healthy because they seek to probe the truth, added “We also notice that a lot of those who engage on the issue are supporters and aides of President Bola Tinubu.”
He explained “To start with, Atiku Abubakar wrote his WAEC examination in 1968 with the name Siddiq Abubakar.
“Every elementary student of Islamic civilization will not find it hard to decipher that both Siddiq and Atiku are names that Prophet Muhammad gave to his bosom friend, Caliph Abubakar. Therefore, Siddiq and Atiku are names that have a historical link to one person in Islamic theology, Ibe added.
He said since 1973, more than 50 years ago he deposed to an affidavit that he would wish to be known officially as Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku confirmed that he still keeps the original copy of that affidavit up to this day.
The statement further read “However, while it has only taken Atiku less than 24 hours to come out with full disclosure on his public records, President Tinubu has lived behind the veil for more than half of a century.
“Since 1970 when President Tinubu came under public record to have falsified his academic credentials by claiming to have graduated from a nonexistent school, the narrative of his public profile continues to get dirty and messier by the turn of every decade.
“The latest in the rigmarole of President Tinubu’s life of forgeries and falsification of documents is the recent declaration by the Chicago State University that it is not the issuer of the certificate that Nigeria’s president presented to INEC in the run-up to the 2023 presidential election – an act that constitutionally disqualifies the offender from the election.
“It is thus in this note that we call on President Tinubu to follow the example of Atiku Abubakar by coming before Nigerians and the world to explain how he got about his name, his educational background, the history of his early years, the true owner of the Southwest College transcript with which he got admission to the CSU, why he refused to go and retake his pre-qualifying examination for the admission and, more importantly, how he came about the discredited and forged certificate of the Chicago State University that he submitted to INEC.”