Metro

CSU Scandal: No evidence Tinubu’s Chicago certificates were forged— Report

Published

1 year ago

October 12, 2023

A fact-finding mission embarked upon by the BBC has revealed that there is no evidence that the diploma Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the country’s electoral commission was forged.

In a report published on Wednesday, the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team. consisting of Nigerian researchers, Chiagozie Nwonwu, Fauziyya Tukur and Olaronke Alo, said after a thorough fact-checking, it came up with the verdict that the allegation by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election that President Tinubu forged his certificate from the Chicago State University, had no evidence to back it up.

The release of the president’s academic documents by the CSU on the orders of a US District Court was a culmination of a motion filed in August by Atiku, who is contesting the victory of President Tinubu in the disputed February 25 election.

The released documents have been tagged as fake by opposition party leaders and members, especially Atiku and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, while the Tinubu camp has continued to insist that the certificates are genuine.

Atiku, in particular, has maintained that the documents were doctored, and has accused Tinubu of falsifying the CSU diploma of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration awarded in 1979 that he submitted to INEC.

The released documents also raised questions on conflicting birth date and schools purportedly attended by Tinubu.

In one of the documents, it was stated that Tinubu attended Government College Lagos in 1970, but information available on the school website states that it was only founded in 1974.

According to the documents, Tinubu’s transcript from the CSU has his date of birth as March 29, 1954, while his undergraduate admissions application form has his date of birth as March 29, 1955, which have also given the Atiku legal team grounds to further doubt the authenticity of the documents.

Other grounds of discrepancies which the opposition have held on to are the issues of Tinubu’s Social Security Number and gender.

But the BBC fact-finding team’s report said the Social Security Number in the transcript from Chicago varsity matched what it had in other documents in which Tinubu’s gender was marked as male.

The case is now before Nigeria’s Supreme Court, which will decide whether or not the purported evidence is admissible in the election dispute.

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Metro

Following backlash, Nigerian govt withdraws treason charges against minors

Published

4 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Isaac Dachen

The Nigerian government has officially withdrawn the treason charges it entered against some minors who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest that spread across the country from August 1 to the 10th.

The nation was thrown into shock on Friday when the Nigeria Police presented 76 protesters at the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on treason. Among the suspects were four minors who slumped before they could be arraigned before the court.

This caused serious uproar in the country with Nigerians condemning the government and calling for the unconditional release of the kids and the dismissal of the charges against them.

The decision to withdraw the charges against the underage accused came following a directive by President Bola Tinubu who ordered the immediate withdrawal of the charges and an in-depth investigation into what led to the arrest and detention of the minors.

Tinubu had also ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) to officially take over the case file as well as review the cases following public outcry that came with the arraignment of the minors.

The charges were finally withdrawn on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja through an application for discontinuance filled by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the AGF.

According to Abubakar, the discontinuance application was based on provisions of sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.

The DPPF also applied for further proceedings to be conducted without the presence of the minors in the courtroom, in line with provisions of Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act.

In response, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Fanala (SAN), who stood in for the accused as well as other defence lawyers in the matter, did not oppose the applications which promoted the judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, to strike out the charges, while the four affected minors were also delisted from the charge sheet.

Metro

Zambia: President Hichilema urges traditional leaders to invoke rainmaking powers amid drought

Published

21 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, has called on traditional leaders to call upon their rainmaking powers by praying for rain as the nation continues to face the menace of drought.

Hichilema, who made the plea while speaking during the Shikaumpa traditional ceremony of the Ila people in Namwala on Sunday, expressed hope for divine intervention and sufficient rains.

“We pray that this year, God will give us rains, sufficient rains, so we can grow more food, so we can take care of the things, the assets that we keep,” the President stated.

He noted that he was informed of certain chiefs known for their rainmaking abilities, including Senior Chief Mwamba of Northern Province, Chief Sailunga of North-Western Province and Mwami Monze from the Southern Province and urged them to use their powers to invoke rain, adding that the chiefs should continue their prayers for rain, believing that “God will hear our cry.”

The President also encouraged not only the chiefs but also the churches and the entire nation to join in prayers for rain.

“All of us, the churches, everybody, we must pray for rains so that we can take care of God’s people properly,” he said.

The head of state further urged farmers to intensify efforts at planting crops and maximizing their harvest for national food security once the rain comes.

The drought in Zambia in recent
seasons have left 84 districts severely impacted, leading to food shortages and a worsening electricity deficit due to low water levels.