Atiku Challenges Tinubu to Clarify Academic Claims and Ingenuity
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has once again raised questions about the academic and educational claims of President Bola Tinubu, urging him to provide clarity and transparency on his educational journey.
Atiku expressed his concerns through his verified X (formerly Twitter) account. He began by recounting Tinubu's earlier claims regarding his primary and secondary education, stating, "I woke up this morning wondering how we got to this cul de sac. In 1999, Tinubu claimed he attended St. John's Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, before proceeding to Children's Home School in Ibadan."
Continuing, Atiku tweeted, "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 Chicago State University in the United States."
Atiku expressed his bewilderment at these changes in Tinubu's educational narrative and questioned the feasibility of having no primary and secondary education but possessing a university degree. He suggested that Nigerians should join him in seeking clarification from Tinubu on how he accomplished this feat, alluding to Tinubu's purported ingenuity.
Atiku recently filed a separate case against Tinubu in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, focusing on the academic records of the President. This suit differs from the case related to the academic degree, which asserts that Tinubu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Chicago State University.
Responding to claims made by Tinubu's lawyers, Angela Liu, legal counsel to Atiku in the U.S., noted that Chicago State University had provided two certificates attesting to Tinubu's attendance at the institution. While one certificate mentioned the degree's issuance date as June 22, 1979, the other indicated June 27, 1979, due to a clerical error.
The ongoing exchange of information and claims has brought the educational background of President Tinubu into sharp focus. Atiku's insistence on clarity underscores the importance of transparency in public life and accountability in matters concerning public officials' educational qualifications.