Politics

I am not your partner in forgery, lies – Atiku hits back at Tinubu

Published

1 year ago

October 23, 2023

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

I am not your partner in forgery, lies – Atiku hits back at Tinubu

FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has hit back at the media aides of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for trying severally to liken his public life to that of the President.

Atiku, who was speaking through Paul Ibe, his Media Adviser and Phrank Shaibu, his Special Assistant on public communication, said that trying to put both men in the same category of forgers and liars was an attempt in futility.

The Atiku media team, which was responding to the allegation by President Tinubu’s camp that the affidavit Atiku deposed to on August 18, 1973, where he expressed his wishes to be publicly known as Atiku Abubakar was forged because it was signed on a Saturday.

According to them, the court worked on Atiku’s affidavit on Saturday in Lagos.

They said that what the media aides and supporters of Bola A. Tinubu were doing was a random bite of the public profile of Atiku Abubakar until they found an item they could chomp with their filthy teeth.

‘All that mattered to them is to pick a hole in Atiku Abubakar’s public profile.

“For them, it isn’t important that the person called Bola A. Tinubu was discovered to be the name of a female, nor was it important that Bola A. Tinubu forged a certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission or that Bola A. Tinubu is the Guinea pig student of the Government College Lagos, who was used to test run the school four years before it was founded.

“Like the late Fela Anikulapo said: I be thief, you be robber! You are also a thief is not a defence to an accusation of theft. They thought they found someone else to share the inglorious stage of certificate forgery with.

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“So, it was found out that Atiku’s affidavit was signed on a Saturday and they went into a frenzy; oiled as a diesel train.

However, Atiku’s camp noted that they have conducted a research into the registry of the Lagos State high courts in the same year, 1973, to see if it was really an absurdity to have court papers signed on a Saturday and discovered that there are court papers that were signed on Saturdays in the year 1973!

“Atiku Abubakar’s affidavit was not the only one signed on Saturday as the corn-men would want you to believe.

“Here and now, we shall show you slides of our findings.

“A practitioner of democracy, especially someone, who sits on the chair of a president, must live above board.

“A president must mirror the moral rectitude of trust and transparency.

“To be called the president of a country is to be an approximation of the values that such a country stands for. Nigeria does not stand for forgeries and impersonation.

‘It is, therefore, on this note that we, yet again, call on President Bola A. Tinubu to follow the example of Atiku Abubakar to clear the air about all doubts and kuru kere about his past.

“Since Lagos is his domain, we ask Bola A. Tinubu to boldly walk into Government College Lagos and make available to the world, just as we have done today, a copy of his 1970 certificate with which he sought admission into the Chicago State University. He may as well tell us, the business center inside Oluwole Market in Lagos, where he printed the forged Chicago State University certificate that he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

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“And if, assuming the president is afraid to come out clean, because we can only assume at this point, that Bola A. Tinubu has some skeletons in his closet. He should feel free to confide in us what those skeletons are.

“It is embarrassing enough that the FBI and other anti-crime agencies in the United States are poised to start releasing information on our president any moment from now.

“It is more embarrassing that President Bola A. Tinubu will fight tooth and nail to block those discoveries about his past, saying such will cause him irreparable damage. Bola A. Tinubu needs to be reminded that what the FBI and other US security agencies are set to do by releasing the #FBITinubuFiles will undoubtedly cause Nigeria irreparable damage!

“Nigeria is a country of laws, and no one single man or woman, no matter how highly placed, is bigger than our laws.

“We hope that this discovery into Atiku’s Saturday affidavit by his own media team will rest this issue and provide the opportunity for Bola A. Tinubu’s team to come clean with its decades of forgeries and lies. Nigerians are waiting for them to put an end to this kindergarten Tom and Jerry that has done nothing, but brought embarrassment and humiliation to our country and its people,’ he added.

Realnews reports that the media teams of both men have engaged in heated arguments after Atiku’s inquest into President Tinubu’s documents with Chicago State University revealing several inconsistencies in his certificates.

Politics

Atiku says he’s not sure about contesting 2027 presidential election

Published

5 days ago

March 26, 2025

Trends Admin

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

Atiku says he’s not sure about contesting 2027 presidential election

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that he does not know if he will contest the presidency in 2027.

Atiku made the remark in a yet-to-be-aired interview for a television show, Untold Stories, with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, scheduled for broadcast today but exclusively obtained by Daily Trust.

The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently announced the formation of a coalition of opposition leaders to wrest power from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

However, there has been widespread speculation about who will lead the coalition and emerge as its presidential candidate, with former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, being considered among its key figures.

When asked if he would be running for the presidency in 2027, Atiku said: “I don’t know because there has to be, first of all, a viable platform, more than any other time in the political history of this country, particularly since the return of democracy.”

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Atiku, who has run for the presidency a record six times, did not rule out the possibility of contesting again in 2027.

“I have not seen Nigeria in dire need of, you know, an experienced and credible leadership than this time.

“We had a similar, you know, what would I say, merger in 2014. About four of us or is it three? We all ran for president and one of us emerged, and we all supported the one who emerged, and he won,” he said.

He agreed with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assertion that Nigeria’s democracy is deteriorating, saying the situation is “very dire.”

“No doubt about that,” he said.

Atiku also expressed his disappointment with the country’s political leadership.

“The next generation after me, many of them had been governors, had been senators. Instead of me to see an improvement in the level of governance at the state level and so on and so forth, I don’t see it. So I feel a little bit distressed.”

Atiku also questioned the credibility of the current legislative leadership, especially as it relates to the National Assembly’s ratification of the state of emergency in Rivers State

“I am not surprised,” he said, alleging that they are corrupt.

Atiku says he’s not sure about contesting 2027 presidential election

Politics

Africa’s democracy is govt by small for small number of people – Obasanjo

Published

6 days ago

March 25, 2025

Trends Admin

Africa’s democracy is govt by small for small number of people – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advanced reasons for what he called abysmal failure of democracy in Africa.

According to him, African presidents work with a clique and wield enormous powers with little or no resistance from perpetuating illegalities and abuse of office.

The ex-President said the democracy being practised in Africa does not aligned with the people’s values, culture, and way of life.

Obasanjo said spoke on Monday at a colloquium in Abuja to mark the 60th birthday of Emeka Ihedioha, a former governor of Imo State.

The former Nigerian leader, who chaired the event, referencing Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy as “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” said the system should work for all citizens rather than a privileged few.

He however wondered if African countries are practising true democracy or only adopting Western Liberal democracy.

He said, “If you are talking about democracy failing in Africa, democracy in Africa has failed. And why has it failed?

“Because in context and in content, it is not Africa. It does not have any aspect of our culture, our way of life, what we stand for, what we believe.

“Today, we have democracy, which is the government of a small number of people, by a small number of people over a large number of people who are deprived of what they need to have in life. That is not democracy that will endure.

“It is ‘I am because I can grab.’ What sort of democracy brings you, and you grab everything and then illegally, corruptly, and you say go to court? When you know that even in the court, you cannot get justice.

“It’s not that democracy is failing, democracy is dying and if we are going to make democracy not to die, we have to look at democracy in the context and in the content of Africa. I hope that we will get to that stage so that democracy which will deliver will be the democracy that we will have in Africa.”

Obasanjo was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1976 to 1979 and democratically elected president from 1999 to 2007.

Politics

Atiku, Obi, El-Rufai’s coalition can’t unseat Tinubu – Shekarau

Published

1 week ago

March 23, 2025

Trends Admin

Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau

Atiku, Obi, El-Rufai’s coalition can’t unseat Tinubu – Shekarau

Former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, has cast doubt on the ability of a newly formed opposition coalition to unseat President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.

Shekarau described the alliance, which includes former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, and ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, as a gathering of individuals with personal political ambitions rather than a structured and unified opposition front.

His remarks came just two days after the coalition’s formation was announced, with the stated goal of challenging Tinubu’s administration.

In a statement by his spokesperson, Dr. Sule Yau, Shekarau remarked, “This is just a gathering of certain individuals with political ambitions; none of them has officially consulted their party leadership.”

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He further argued that a coalition featuring prominent figures does not necessarily equate to an effective political alliance.

“The coalition of opposition figures is a good development, as seen in their recent meeting under what they call an opposition alliance. However, none of the key figures involved represents their party leadership,” Shekarau stated.

Emphasizing the legal framework for political mergers, he pointed out that only registered parties could formally unite, making the recent gathering an informal arrangement rather than an officially recognized coalition.