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Certificate Saga: Atiku, Obi Decry BBC Clearing Tinubu
The public stand-off on the authenticity of the certificates of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has seen the camps of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, decry the BBC’s report that there is no evidence to back the forgery allegation the president.
This follows the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team declaring in a fact-checking report published on Wednesday that there was no evidence that President Tinubu forged the Chicago State University (CSU) certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as part of documentation for the contest the February presidential election.
According to the BBC’s report, the allegation that President Tinubu submitted a forged CSU certificate to the INEC was false.
The Global Disinformation Team maintained that it fact-checked the most widely circulated claims to arrive at its conclusion.
Recall that the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against President Tinubu has been shaking the polity with his main rivals in the last election – Atiku and Obi taking on the former Lagos State governor on the matter.
Reports that the ex-Lagos State governor’s certificate was faked had gone viral on social media following the US court ordered release of his CSU academic records.
The release of the president’s academic documents is the culmination of a judicial case filed in August by former Vice President Atiku, who is seeking to overturn President Tinubu’s electoral victory at the Supreme Court.
The former VP, had accused President Tinubu of falsifying the CSU diploma of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration awarded in 1979 that he submitted to the INEC.
In a move to strengthen his election petition appeal filed at the apex court, the PDP standard bearer asked an Illinois, Chicago court to compel the CSU to release the President’s academic records, including a copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979, a copy of the diploma the CSU gave to President Tinubu in 1979, copies of diplomas with the same font, seal, signatures, and wording awarded to other students that are similar to what CSU awarded to him in 1979.
He also demanded documents from the CSU that were certified by Jamar Orr, who was then a staff member of the CSU.
Despite Atiku’s application being vehemently opposed by President Tinubu’s lawyers on the grounds of privacy concerns, the US court decided it should proceed and the school subsequently released the academic records.
In line with the court ruling, Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, questioned the CSU registrar, Caleb Westberg, in a deposition.
The report read, “Some social media users in Nigeria allege that the deposition and the diplomas released by CSU confirm that the diploma submitted to INEC by Mr Tinubu was forged.
“This claim was also repeated by one of Mr Abubakar’s lawyers, Kalu Kalu, at a press conference last week.
“We found there was no evidence to support this claim. Many social media users in Nigeria have been sharing false or misleading posts about the deposition of Caleb Westberg, the current CSU Registrar.”
It continued that the CSU issued ‘three different diplomas’ for President Tinubu, none of which could be seen as fake.
“The CSU released several diplomas issued between 1979 and 2003. We analysed all of them.
“There are three different diplomas for Mr Tinubu that we refer to throughout our analysis:
“The original one from 1979, which he has said in the past was lost when he went into exile in the 1990s. The second one that he submitted to INEC, supposedly a replacement diploma from CSU (it is similar to diplomas issued by CSU in the 1990s).
“Additionally, CSU holds another replacement diploma for Mr Tinubu that they say is probably from the early 2000s that he never collected. The allegations on social media are based on a comparison between the document Mr Tinubu submitted to INEC and the 1979 diplomas released by CSU.’’
During Westberg’s deposition, the BBC noted that Atiku’s lawyer focused on the copy of the diploma President Tinubu submitted to the electoral commission and suggested that it was unlike any of the diplomas released by the CSU.
“However, while Mr Westberg agreed with Ms Liu that the diploma in question does not look like the samples from 1979, he stated that the certificate actually looks like three of the diplomas CSU released to Mr Abubakar. Our analysis confirms this.
“It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s. Mr Westberg said the template of CSU’s diploma has changed several times over the years. He said any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated.
“As such, if Mr Tinubu had reordered his diploma in the late 1990s, what he would have been given would look like what was obtainable then.’’
Referring to a claim made by a fact-checking organisation in Nigeria that the diploma President Tinubu submitted was not from CSU as its diplomas do not include the phrase “with honours” under the degree name, the BBC said it found that while this was not reflected in the other diplomas released by CSU, “it does appear in Mr Tinubu’s diploma issued in the early 2000s, which was authenticated by Mr Westberg during his deposition.
“It has the words “with honours” – a match with the diploma with the same detail submitted by the president to INEC.”
However, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement, described the report as a hatchet job.
He claimed that the report “is part of President Tinubu administration’s propaganda programme.”
Shaibu said, “Sometime last week when the National Broadcasting Commission issued a final warning to Arise News TV, we pointed out that the Tinubu administration was on the verge of launching a full-blown propaganda and also intimidating ‘uncooperative’ media houses into discrediting and downplaying the CSU scandal.
“Sadly, we never imagined that it would be the BBC that would become the willing tool.”
Shaibu lampooned the BBC for allegedly attempting to “bamboozle Nigerians with a jaundiced report when the details are clear for everyone to see.”
Atiku’s aide alleged that the BBC investigation was carried out with a predetermined goal, which is to absolve President Tinubu of the certificate forgery allegations.
Shaibu called on the BBC and other fact-checkers to be more circumspect, adding that their job was too sensitive to entertain errors.
The media aide, who advised media organisations to invest more in investigative journalism, noted that “If the BBC had invested in proper investigative journalism, it would have been the one uncovering some of Tinubu’s scandals instead of relying on Atiku for information on Tinubu’s certificates.”
On their part, the leadership of the Labour Party said they were not moved by the report of the British media outfit, which to them was mere damage control to change the certificate saga narrative.
National Legal Adviser, Labour Party, Kehinde Edun, maintained that regardless of what anyone may say, the president must take responsibility “for the mess he is putting the country through.”
He noted, “They (BBC) are entitled to their opinion. As far as we are concerned, this issue has become so messy and too dirty. In fact, in this circumstance, we even sympathise with Tinubu because he put himself in too many problems by not coming out clean about so many things.
“If you look at what Peter Obi said today, he was actually showing some form of empathy by saying that this man (Tinubu) should just clean up his mess for the sake of the country.’’
Police officers on Monday fired tear gas to disperse peaceful demonstrators gathered in Abuja’s Maitama district to protest worsening economic conditions, insecurity, and what they described as growing repression by the Nigerian government.
The protest, organized by the Take-It-Back Movement alongside other civil society groups, was part of a nationwide action.
It took place on the same day the Nigeria Police Force marked its National Police Day with a formal ceremony at Eagle Square.
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With the Three Arms Zone cordoned off for the police event—attended by high-ranking officials—security presence was heightened across the capital.
Protesters, however, assembled nearby, calling attention to what they see as the shrinking space for civil liberties and freedom of expression.
Carrying placards that read “Stop the Repression” and “Let Us Breathe,” the demonstrators included well-known activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore.
Leading the protest was Juwon Sanyaolu, National Coordinator of the Take-It-Back Movement, who outlined the group’s demands.
He cited the country’s rising inflation, widespread insecurity, and “a state of emergency” in Rivers State as urgent national concerns.
“We cannot continue to suffer in silence,” he said. “This action was necessary to draw attention to the suffering of the Nigerian people and the growing attempts to suppress dissent.”
Although the march began without incident, the situation quickly escalated when police operatives moved in with tear gas to break up the crowd. Protesters were seen fleeing the area as tension mounted.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests at the time of this report.
The National Assembly complex, which was among the destinations the protesters planned to visit, was quiet due to the ongoing recess. Lawmakers are expected to resume on April 29.
Despite being cut short, protest leaders stood by the action, describing it as timely and essential.
“This action was necessary to draw attention to the suffering of the Nigerian people and the growing attempts to suppress dissent,” Sanyaolu emphasized.
Protesters in Lagos on Monday defied police warnings as they took to the streets to demonstrate against the rising threat of cybercrime and the perceived move toward emergency rule in Rivers State.
Organized by the Take It Back Movement (TIBM), the protest began at the popular Ikeja Under-Bridge, with demonstrators marching toward the Lagos State Government House and the State House of Assembly in Alausa.
The protest, which remained peaceful despite tight security presence, was held in exercise of the group’s constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
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The demonstration came just a day after the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, urged organizers to cancel the planned nationwide protest scheduled for April 7, 2025.
The date also marks the newly declared National Police Day.
In a statement issued on Sunday by Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, the police described the protest as “ill-timed,” alleging that it was intended to cast the Nigeria Police in a negative light.
“In line with global best practices in celebrating police institutions, the Nigerian Government has declared April 7 as National Police Day,” the statement read.
“The rationale behind staging a nationwide protest on the same day is questionable and perceived as a deliberate and unpatriotic act aimed at maligning the image of the Nigeria Police and the nation as a whole,” it added. “The Nigeria Police Force hereby advises the organizers to shelve the planned protest.”
Despite the appeal, TIBM pushed forward with its Lagos demonstration, maintaining that the protest was both timely and necessary.
The group’s National Coordinator, Juwon Sanyaolu, led the procession, which continued from Alausa toward Ojota and Gani Fawehinmi Park, where he was expected to address the crowd.
For many months, Nigeria’s most notorious terrorist mastermind, Turji Bello and several others of his kind have defied the deadline given by the service chiefs including the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Olufemi Oluyede to neutralise or capture them in the bid to bring their reigns of bloodshed and destruction of lives and property to an end.
Amid what seemed like a spectacular failure by the Nigerian Service Chiefs and the National Security Adviser (NSA) to achieve these targets of neutralising Bello, the civil society organization, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the Service Chiefs including the CDS, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the NSA to acknowledge publicly that they have collectively disappointed Nigeria by not neutralising or arresting Bello and other notorious terrorists and then bow out of their juicy offices since the wages of failure to actualise a mandate is an honourable exit.
The HURIWA’s position was contained in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko
The HURIWA also expressed shock and consternation that the Nigerian leader who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu jetted off to France, Europe, at a time when terrorists in their hundreds are staging religious ceremonies to commemorate the end of the year 2025 Ramadan fast and the Sallah.
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“Travelling to France on what the President calls ‘brief working visit’ makes no logical, tactical and good reputational sense because what will our president tell the French journalists if he is confronted with the viral videos of terrorists holding religious and social ceremonies in Nigeria whereby his primary constitutional duty is to provide security to the lives and property of Nigerians and to guarantee the welfare and well-being of the citizenry?”
The HURIWA stated that it is extremely disappointing that several months since the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa categorically assured Nigerians that the reign of the notorious terrorist leader, Bello Turji would come to an end, the terror mastermind has rather reportedly hosted a grand Eid celebration in Magira, located in Isa Local Government Area (LGA) of Sokoto State, before leading an attack in Fadamar Lugu, where he and his gang killed 12 people and left one person injured on Tuesday.
The Rights group recalled that even 4 months back, on December 31st, 2024, the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa appeared on a popular prime time network programme on Channels television and assured Nigerians for the umpteenth time that Turji Bello would be captured and that most of his affiliates have been neutralised. In February of this year, the CDS also told Nigerians that the terror mastermind Turji Bello is asking to surrender.
The HURIWA then wondered how come the terrorist leader is now holding open religious ceremony and even moving to another town where he killed 12 innocent members of the community just for fun.
The HURIWA quoted security analyst Bakatsine as disclosing the incident in a post on 𝕏 on Wednesday, revealing that Turji’s gathering in Magira was attended by fellow bandits from Zamfara State.
Following the festivities, the group proceeded to Fadamar Lugu, where they launched a brutal assault on innocent residents.
“Bandit leader Bello Turji hosted an Eid celebration in Magira, Isa LGA, with bandits from Zamfara State. After the feast, he moved to Fadamar Lugu in Isa LGA, Sokoto State, killing 12 people & injuring one person just for fun,” Bakatsine wrote.
Turji, one of Nigeria’s most wanted criminals, has been linked to numerous violent crimes, including mass killings, kidnappings, and raids across Sokoto and Zamfara States.
The HURIWA recalled that in a separate but alarming development, armed bandits operating in different parts of the country were seen on video performing Eid prayers at the conclusion of the 2025 Ramadan fast.
Counter-insurgency expert Zagazola Makama shared the footage on 𝕏 on Tuesday, April 1, revealing that the armed groups conducted prayers in two locations within Kaduna State.
Naijaonpoint understands that the prayers took place in Maidaro, Sabon Birni, and East Kaduna, deep within Dogon Dawa Forest.
The video footage reportedly showed the bandits armed with sophisticated weapons, including guns, drones, and mobile phones.
The HURIWA said for the fact that the Defence Chiefs including the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede publicly gave timelines to definitely bring Turji Bello to justice or take justice to him and his many affiliates, the notorious terrorists leader Turji Bello has remained elusive and the Nigeria Army which is the largest in Africa has failed for half a year to capture just one terrorism kingpin just as the security forces are overwhelmed by sporadic terrorists attacks all across the Country.
The HURIWA noted that a tragic incident had unfolded in Delta State, where a man, Godwin Anuka, was brutally killed by suspected Fulani herders after being kidnapped alongside his wife and two children in the Ubulu-Uku area.
The shocking development was revealed by Harrison Gwamnishu, the Senior Special Assistant on Civil Society and Youth Mobilisation to the Delta State Governor, in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
According to Gwamnishu, the kidnappers had abducted two individuals on March 23, taking them into the bush while demanding ransom. However, in a heartbreaking turn of events, Anuka was murdered in the presence of his wife and children.
He noted that while the kidnappers were hiding in the bush with the two abducted victims, they saw Anuka alongside his wife and two underage children working on their farm.
The HURIWA said it is worrisome that top-flight security chiefs would publicly vow to achieve an objective and when they fail, they simply pretend like they did not publicly make any affirmation to neutralise Turji Bello. “They told us about 6 months back that Turji Bello’s threats to attack communities in Zamfara and Sokoto state was the last kick of a dying horse and that his end is imminent. Six months later, TURJI BELLO is not only operating unhindered, but he is killing civilians for fun and staging religious ceremonies covered by his affiliates who are deploying modern technology such as drones and sophisticated phones to record videos of the events and distributing them to social media platforms. This should be the reason for the failed service chiefs to take the most honourable step and resign forthwith so fresh service chiefs can be entrusted with the job of achieving the war on terror within the specified time frame.”
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Adeleke Felicitates Tinubu @73
