Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) has called out President Bola Tinubu to reveal his true identity amidst the current controversy, trailing disclosure of the President’s academic records by Chicago State University.
Obi during a press conference, on Wednesday stated that the controversy over Tinubu’s academic records has made foreigners to start profiling Nigerians as “fraudsters, certificate forgers or identity thieves”.
The former governor of Anambra state, added that the questions on the identity of President Bola Tinubu have further worsened Nigeria’s battered reputation in the international community.
Just last week, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections, had called on Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party to join him in his legal battle against Tinubu, particularly over the certificate forgery allegation against the president.
Recall that Atiku had through a US court subpoena secured the release of Tinubu’s academic records from the CSU.
Abubakar had approached the US District Court in Northern Illinois to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records, arguing that it would boost his suit challenging the President’s election in the February 25 presidential poll.
The PDP candidate had requested the documents for use in Nigerian courts 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.
The former vice president and Obi are currently in Supreme Court to appeal the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court, which on September 6, upheld the victory of Tinubu in the February 25 election.
According to Obi, Tinubu owes the nation the simple obligation of reintroducing himself to the world.
“The entire Chicago University matter as well as Chief Bola Tinubu’s many other lingering identity question marks has further worsened Nigeria’s less-than-glorious image internationally,” he said.
“Uninformed outsiders now see every Nigerian as a fraudster, certificate forger or identity thief. The controversy is unnecessary.
“The implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided. In my opinion, Bola Tinubu should have saved the nation and himself from this protracted embarrassment and undue anxiety.
“He should let the world know his name, his nationality, his place of birth, his parentage, the primary and secondary schools he attended with dates as well as the actual universities he attended and certificates obtained.
“He should indicate clearly where and when he did his national youth service.
“In addition, if at any time he had had a change of name, he should state so clearly. That in itself is no crime.
“It does not require an affidavit, prolonged court process, spokespersons, agents or surrogates. The task is only one which Bola Tinubu himself through a direct personal statement can perform.
“With his present capacity as a leader of a nation of over 200 million Nigerians, his true identity is a matter of grave national and international interest.
“The people deserve to know with certainty the true identity of their leader and this overrides whatever right he may have to personal privacy.”
