The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, says the controversy surrounding the academic records of President Bola Tinubu has worsened Nigeria’s “less-than-glorious” image internationally.
Obi said people across the world now see every Nigerian as “a potential fraudster, certain forger, or identity thief”, noting that he was distressed as a Nigerian over the controversy surrounding Tinubu’s certificate released recently by the Chicago State University in the United States.
The LP presidential standard-bearer said this at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, October 11, 2023.
The former governor of Anambra State, however, enjoined Tinubu to re-introduce himself to Nigerians and others across the world to avoid further doubt on his identity.
Obi said Tinubu should let the world know his name, place of birth, the primary and secondary schools he attended with dates as well as the universities he attended and certificates obtained.
He stated: “Having followed the prolonged identity crisis that recently played out in the American Court System and the controversy surrounding the authenticity of the Chicago State University credentials of Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I must confess that I am distressed as a Nigerian.
“In addition to the barrage of media frenzy that the matter has triggered at home and abroad, I have had the unwholesome burden of responding to embarrassing questions about Nigeria’s overall credibility as a nation to privileged audiences and individuals both at home and abroad in different parts of the world where I have travelled lately.
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“To outsiders, the entire Chicago State University matter as well as Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s many other lingering identity question marks has further worsened Nigeria’s less-than-glorious image internationally.
“Uninformed outsiders now see every other Nigerian as a potential fraudster, certain forger, or identity thief. The controversy is unnecessary just as the implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided.”
Obi further noted that Nigerians deserve to know for a certainty the true identity of their leader, saying this overrides whatever rights the leader’s may have to personal privacy.
He added: “In addition, the international community deserves to know the true identity of the person with whom they will engage in Nigeria.
“Having stood for an election to the elevated public office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Bola Tinubu has implicitly undertaken to cede the rights of a private citizen in favour of a life of open disclosure of his true identity, and other circumstances that may be of public interest.
“His personal integrity demands no less. The legitimacy of the office he currently occupies demands that much and even more.
“Respect for the integrity and esteem of the Nigerian nation within the community of nations makes it even more incumbent and compulsory. It is time to do the right thing.”
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