President Bola Tinubu has petitioned the supreme court with claims that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, used fake primary and secondary school certificates to contest the last election.
In a counter affidavit filed at the apex court on Thursday, October 12, 2023, Tinubu accused Abubakar of submitting fake credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the presidential election.
In the affidavit filed by his lead counsel, Wole Olanikepun (SAN), Tinubu claimed that the PDP candidate bore “Atiku Kojoli” on his primary school certificate and “Siddiq Abubakar” on his 1965 West African School Certificate and General Certificate of Examination (WASSCE).
Tinubu also contended that there is no guarantee that the former Vice President was the man he claimed to be because of the inconsistencies in the names on his primary and secondary school certificates.
He added: “It is the 1st appellant’s acclaimed primary school certificate bearing the name “Atiku Kojoli” and his purported 1965 West African School Certificate and General Certificate of Examination bearing the name “Siddiq Abubakar” (as opposed to the name “Atiku Abubakar”, which he claims to Nigerians and INEC to be his) that are yet to be explained by Jeda Primary School Adamawa (which he claimed to have attended), the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, West African Examination Council or such other credible institution with the capacity to so do.
“Now shown to me, attached hereto and marked as Exhibit 9, is a copy of the said Siddiq Abubakar’s 1965 West African School Certificate and General Certificate of Examination, submitted by the 1st appellant.”
On October 5, Abubakar filed a motion at the apex court to introduce fresh evidence of forgery that contained a deposition of Chicago State University (CSU) registrar, Caleb Westberg, saying that he could not authenticate the certificate Tinubu tendered to INEC because the institution did not issue it.
But Tinubu’s team of lawyers are fiercely opposing the motion, requesting that the Supreme Court give a judgement only on the basis of evidence admitted in the first court of trial where the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal had in September dismissed all the petitions filed by Abubakar.