TheCable

Paul Ibe, media adviser to Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to personally clarify the discrepancies in his academic records.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ibe said it took Abubakar 24 hours to explain the discrepancy in his West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate when confronted by critics.

Abubakar’s WAEC certificate bears “Siddiq” and has since sparked forgery allegation controversy on social media.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the last elections explained that he used the name “Siddiq” when he wrote his WAEC in 1968.

The former vice-president added that he later deposed to an affidavit to declare that “Abubakar Sadiq” and “Atiku Abubakar” are the same person.

Ibe said Abubakar’s explanation and display of the affidavit to back his claim “shows an example of an upright man”.

“Every elementary student of Islamic civilization will not find it hard to decipher that both Siddiq and Atiku are names that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave to his bosom friend, Caliph Abubakar. Therefore, Siddiq and Atiku are names that have a historical link to one person in Islamic theology,” the statement reads.  

“Atiku Abubakar, knowing full well the importance of proper documentation, went ahead in 1973, more than 50 years ago to depose to an affidavit that he would wish to be known officially as Atiku Abubakar and still keeps the original copy of that affidavit up to this day.

“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.”

Abubakar is challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 poll and the judgment of the tribunal that upheld the president’s victory on September 6.

He has consistently claimed that Tinubu’s educational records are fraught with discrepancies and forgeries.

His request for the US court for the northern district of Illinois to compel Chicago State University (CSU) to release Tinubu’s academic records has since been granted.

Abubakar has applied to the supreme court to file fresh evidence from his discovery of the president’s academic records against him.