In an effort to undermine the PDP candidate’s case to have him disqualified at the Supreme Court, President Bola Tinubu has made serious accusations of identity fraud and forgery against his main rival, Atiku Abubakar.
According to Mr. Tinubu’s counter affidavit, which was submitted to the Supreme Court on October 12 and obtained by USAfricaonline.com, president Tinubu accused Mr. Abubakar of submitting phony identification to INEC, claiming that his primary school transcript read “Atiku Kojoli” and his 1965 West African School Certificate and General Certificate of Examination (WASSCE) bore the name “Siddiq Abubakar” instead.
While the name change affidavit that The Gazette previously reported on demonstrates that Mr. Abubakar officially changed his name from Siddiq Abubakar to Atiku Abubakar in August 1973, there is no obvious justification for the second name, “Atiku Kojoli.”
See aforementioned affidavit
Because of the discrepancies between the names on Mr. Abubakar’s primary and secondary school certificates, Mr. Tinubu claims that there is no assurance that he was the person he claimed to be.
“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,” asserted Mr Tinubu in his counter-affidavit submitted to the senior court on October 12 at 4:42 p.m.
“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,” the president added.
On October 5, Mr. Abubakar submitted a motion to the Supreme Court seeking permission to present new forgery evidence, which included a deposition of Caleb Westberg, registrar of Chicago State University (CSU), who claimed he was unable to authenticate the certificate Mr. Tinubu presented to INEC because the university had not issued it.
However, Mr. Tinubu’s legal team is vehemently opposing the motion and is asking that the Supreme Court only rule on the basis of evidence that was admitted in the first court of trial, where the presidential elections petitions tribunal had in September dismissed all of Mr. Abubakar’s petitions against Mr. Tinubu.
The ultimate judgment, though, rests with the justices of the supreme court, whose application of the law and administration of justice might deliver Mr. Tinubu a hard-won victory or defeat.
