Atiku Refuses To Release Academic Records Despite Exposing That Of Tinubu

Atiku Refuses To Release Academic Records Despite Exposing That Of Tinubu

Despite a formal request and a subsequent reminder from PREMIUM TIMES, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has not provided copies of his academic certificates from primary school to university, including a Master’s degree certificate.

The request was made based on Atiku’s claim in his filing to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when he ran in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections.

While Atiku’s lawyers went to the United States to legally compel Chicago State University to release President Bola Tinubu’s academic records, Atiku has not responded to the request for his own academic records.

The original request was sent on October 3, 2023, with a reminder on November 13, 2023.

Despite assurances from Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, there has been no response or provision of the requested information.

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In the letter, PREMIUM TIMES stated: “We respectfully congratulate Your Excellency on your success in obtaining the academic records of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the Chicago State University after a valiant legal battle at the United States District Court, Northern Illinois.

“Your stated reason for the pursuit of the documents is to support your challenge of the authenticity of the certificate presented by President Tinubu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 25 February, 2023 presidential election.

“We also see it as a patriotic endeavour to set high ethical standards for Nigerian public figures, in particular those seeking high public offices, and to promote the noble principles of transparency and honesty in the conduct of public affairs in our country.

“We find it especially commendable that you have chosen to do this through the judicial route, thus again cementing your reputation as a democrat and an adherent to due process.

“It is in the same interest of transparency that we hereby respectfully request your own academic records.

“Making the records available to us will demonstrate that you did not demand from your opponent what you are not willing to give.

“Sir, what we seek from you are your admission records, transcripts and certificates from all the academic institutions that you attended at home and abroad, including for the award of a Master’s degree.

“To raise even higher the bar of transparency and moral exemplariness, Your Excellency may wish to add your employment and business records as well.”

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar sought the release of President Bola Tinubu’s academic records through a legal process in the United States, accusing Tinubu of forgery of a certificate from Chicago State University (CSU). Atiku claimed he needed the documents to strengthen his case at the Supreme Court after the Presidential Election Petition Court dismissed his petition against the election of the president.

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The US District Court ordered CSU to release the records, and the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed Atiku’s appeal. The court held that Atiku did not plead the forgery allegation in his petition to the election tribunal and, therefore, the evidence from the US was not admissible. Atiku criticized the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that it legitimized “illegality, including forgery, identity theft, and perjury.”

He said: “If the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, implies by its judgment that crime is good and should be rewarded, then Nigeria has lost and the country is doomed irrespective of who occupies the Presidential seat.”

Atiku also said the judgement implied that the Supreme Court saw nothing wrong in INEC telling the public one thing and doing something else “in order to reach a corruptly predetermined outcome.” He added, “then there is really no hope for the country’s democracy and electoral politics”.

“Obviously, the consequences of those decisions for the country will not end at the expiration of the current government. They will last for decades. I am absolutely sure that history will vindicate me.

“It is not about me; it is about our country, Nigeria. It is about the kind of society we want to leave for the next generation and what kind of example we want to set for our children and their children.

“It is about the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians in the eyes of the world,” the former vice president also said.

Despite the origins of the matter in an election petition, PREMIUM TIMES views Atiku’s demand for Bola Tinubu’s academic records as aligning with the need for transparency and accountability in leadership positions. However, when asked to demonstrate his commitment to these standards by revealing his own academic records, Atiku declined.

While seeking leadership in Nigeria for over 30 years and holding the second-highest political office for eight years, gaps persist in the public knowledge about Atiku’s early life and education. Records show he enrolled in Jada Primary School at the age of eight and graduated from Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in 1965. He was admitted to the Nigeria Police College but left due to a lack of an O-Level Mathematics result. He later worked briefly as a Tax Officer before gaining admission to the School of Hygiene in Kano in 1966.

“He graduated with a Diploma in 1967, having served as Interim Student Union President at the school. In 1967, he enrolled for a Law Diploma at the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of Administration, on a scholarship from the regional government. After graduation in 1969, during the Nigerian Civil War, he was employed by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).”

In the heat of his pursuit of the academic records of President Tinubu, Atiku’s own records came under controversy when it was revealed that his WAEC certificate had been awarded to a “Siddiq Abubakar.”

Providing clarifications, his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, said Atiku sat the secondary school certificate examination as “Sadiq” Abubakar, but later swore to an affidavit to state that “Sadiq” and “Atiku” are the same person.

He added that Atiku studied at ABU and worked in the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Customs Service as Atiku Abubakar..

“It is on record that the change of name of the former Vice President reverting to Atiku Abubakar from Siddiq Abubakar is well documented in an affidavit dated 18th of August 1973, spanning over 50 years, is in the public domain,” Mr Ibe said in a press statement.

“For the purpose of clarification, all the names that Atiku Abubakar bears are names that are traceable to his family tree.

“He adopted Atiku Abubakar as his official name while in the employ of the Nigeria Customs Service. Atiku’s life is an open book,” his spokesperson said.

However, by consistently ignoring requests from PREMIUM TIMES for his academic records, Atiku curiously appears reluctant to allow independent media to scrutinize certain aspects of his “open book.” Atiku’s unwillingness to release his academic records, despite vigorously pushing for those of a political rival to be made public, draws parallels with former American President Donald Trump.

Trump was a prominent figure in the “birther movement,” a loose affiliation of people claiming that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was born outside the US and therefore ineligible for the presidency. In October 2012, Trump accused Obama of being “the least transparent president in the history of this country” for not releasing his birth certificate and passport records.

“We know very little about our president,” Mr Trump said at the time. In a YouTube video, Mr Trump said he would donate $5 million to a charity of Mr Obama’s choosing if the then president released his college records and applications and passport applications and records.

Following the statement, The UK Guardian newspaper asked Mr Trump for his own birth certificate and passport records. But Michael Cohen, the executive vice-president at the Trump Organisation and special counsel for Mr Trump at the time, “accused the newspaper of “trying to be funny” and said the request was “stupid’ given Mr Trump’s then lack of political aspirations.

“What’s your point?” Mr Cohen said. “Mr Trump’s not the president of the United States and he’s not running for the presidency,” The Guardian later recalled

In the 2015 report, the newspaper stated: “Now that Trump himself is running for president – in his campaign announcement he promised to crack down on Mexico, which he accused of sending “rapists” to the US – the refusal to release these documents could be seen as hypocritical. If Trump were to win the presidency in November 2016, without publishing the documentation, then he would by his own definition join Obama as being “the least transparent president in the history of this country.”