Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, has voiced his concerns about the ongoing certificate controversy surrounding President Bola Tinubu.
During a press conference in Abuja, Obi stated that this issue has further damaged Nigeria’s international image and affected ordinary Nigerians at home and abroad.
Obi emphasized that to outsiders, the certificate controversy and other lingering questions about Tinubu’s identity have worsened Nigeria’s international reputation. He mentioned that uninformed individuals now tend to perceive all Nigerians as fraudsters, certificate forgers, and identity thieves. Obi believes that the controversy is unnecessary, and the resulting global embarrassment could have been avoided.
The certificate saga emerged after Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), obtained and released Tinubu’s education records from Chicago State University (CSU) through a court subpoena. The records, made public on October 3, revealed discrepancies between Tinubu’s 1979 CSU certificate, which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and samples of certificates issued to students in the same year by the university.
Atiku also addressed a world press conference on October 5, 2023, regarding the certificate controversy.
