By Adadareporters
Kalu Kalu, a constitutional lawyer, Tuesday, said the certificate President Bola Tinubu tendered to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not the document issued by Chicago State University (CSU).
Kalu spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday night. Kalu also claimed Tinubu did not finish from CSU.
In his words, “Our law is very clear. If you present a forged certificate to the electoral umpire, that is INEC, you are not qualified to run. Section 137 (1J ).
“The document Tinubu presented to INEC, was it a certificate issued by Chicago State University? And the answer is ‘no’ from what has been released.”
On the admissibility of the CSU evidence at the Supreme Court at this level of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Kalu said a petitioner could introduce a new matter or fresh evidence to his or her case when appealing at the Supreme Court.
He advised Tinubu to vacate the seat and hand over to the runner-up in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party had sought the release of the documents to enable his proof that Tinubu submitted a forged degree to the Independent National Electoral Commission to qualify to contest Nigeria’s presidential election of 2023.
Tinubu is of the All Progressives Congress. His victory, as declared by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, is being challenged by Atiku and Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Tuggar, says the present administration does not have time to waste on ‘frivolous issues’ following controversies surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s claim of having attended and obtained a certificate from Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America.
The minister stated this on Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday. In his view, the certificate saga has no effect on the recent international engagements of President Tinubu.
Quoting him, “There is a tendency to always try to distract and detain people on such frivolous issues as opposed to facing the major issues of development. We don’t have time to waste on that. Nobody is wasting time about certificate qualification for somebody who has been a governor of a state, served two terms, and has been on the national stage as a politician.
“You remember that (former) President Buhari had to go through the same thing, where people were actually questioning whether he went to secondary school or not. Someone who had classmates; was the captain; he was a head boy. The foreign leaders with whom we’ve been engaging and the international organizations clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such.
“The economic challenges we are facing – we shouldn’t be wasting time about whether some certificate, whether there is a T missing or an I hasn’t been dotted. That shouldn’t be our primary focus at the moment.”
