There could be more trouble for President Bola Tinubu and his legal team even after the planned release today by Chicago University of the president’s papers as ordered by a US court.
Last week, the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois ruled in favour of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, by ordering the Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic record by Monday (today).
Former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka, who calls the whole episode a national embarrassment, says the most important thing in this phase of the saga is not the release of the documents by Chicago State University but the expected deposition on Tuesday where officials of the University would be questioned under oath on Tinubu and the credentials he parades and the chance that a lot would be revealed.
According to Chjidoka, “that it took the courageous activism of Abubakar Atiku to force the discovery of information concerning the President of Nigeria is a disgrace to our national institutions.
“As a nation, we have a full retinue of staff at the Department of the State Security, the National Intelligence Agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Embassy of Nigeria with the full complement of staff in Washington DC and the Nigerian Judiciary that have variously ruled on matters concerning President Tinubu’s academic qualifications. Yet, we can not have a definitive conclusion about whether he has the academic qualifications he claimed he had or not. Disgraceful.
“That all the aforementioned institutions allowed a man to be sworn in without definitive statements about his qualifications is a national tragedy. For 23 years the issue of President Tinubu has been a recurring decimal in our national equation. Under his reign, a current youth corps member serves as Minister, and people under investigation by EFCC and made public sit in the Federal Executive Council. And they all passed through security screening.”
Tin a statement he issued over the weekend, the former minister said “the office of the President of Nigeria is so important both in its moral authority and its strategic importance to our national security and safety that nobody who has possible blind spots can make him or her a potential asset for foreign intelligence or governments should be allowed a mile near that office. This should be a primary burden on all our national institutions. Legal technicalities and silence by state institutions should be deemed high treason.
“It highlights my previous statement that a constitutional amendment to finish all electoral cases before the assumption of office is now an urgent national priority. The current disgraceful proceedings against a Nigerian President in a foreign court under an election petition matter damage our collective moral and legal standing as a people.
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“If it turns out that our President presented a forged certificate to INEC tomorrow, Nigerians will bow down their heads globally in shame. On the other hand, if it turns out that his certificate is genuine, again our reputation as a people is still in tatters because of the failure of national institutions to perform due diligence no matter who is involved. On both counts it reinforces global perceptions and prejudice against Nigerians. We all bear the burden.
“A forged certificate finding leaves President Tinubu in a vulnerable position morally and legally. As he did not present primary and secondary certificates to INEC, a forged CSU certificate makes him unqualified to stand for the office of President as he does not possess the minimum qualification S.131(D) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. Of course, the next issue is the case of perjury, the presentation of false documents under oath.
