#cERTIFICATEsAGA: Tinubu’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Tuggar, calls it ‘frivolous’, non-issue

*Like Reno Omokri, Minister brings former President Buhari’s certificate on table

*Difference between Buhari’s and Tinubu’s certificates issues stated in unanswered media question 

By KEMI KASUMU

Amidst thickening controversies surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s academic records released on Monday October 2, 2023 by Chicago State University (CSU) to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a senior member of the Tinubu’s cabinet and, precisely, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Yusuf Tuggar, has said that the administration cannot waste its time on such “trivial matters”.

Mr. Tuggar, who was speaking while featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, said that the controversy does not cast a shadow on some of the president’s recent international engagements.

The Minister brought the experience how President Muhammadu Buhari at his time was faced with the same issue of certificate, arguing that it is a tendency to always try to distract people but that the administration that he serves will not be distracted.

He spoke just as controversial former social media aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri posted on his X handle to justify his sudden support for Tinubu even as he says on the tongue to be aide to Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Reno Omokri wrote: “This is just déjà vu all over again. Is it that we never learn? The same thing happened with General Buhari. His certificates were lost while he was in detention. He presented a replacement GCE certificate that was full of errors. Yet, no court removed him.”

Omokri was however asked in a media question posed to him: “Yes, Buhari’s certificate were lost and we all knew the reason. The military boggled his house and he said “My documents are with the military”. His replacement was confirmed by WAEC. When did Abacha bombe Tinubu’s house that only his CSU certificate lost?” Up till the time of filing this report, Omokri was yet to answer the media question.

However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who spoke Wednesday on Channels Television and whose submission is believed have informed what Reno Omokri posted on X handle Thursday , had said, “There is a tendency to always try to distract people on such frivolous issues as opposed to facing the major issues of development. We don’t have time to waste on that.”

He argued that a former president, Muhammadu Buhari, experienced a similar issue.

“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 and was the captain? He was a head boy,” he said.

The minister claimed that during Tinubu’s recent international meetings, no one has shown interest in the saga.

“The foreign leaders that we’ve been engaging and the international organisations clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such.

“We pay no mind to that,” Tuggar stated.

He added that due to the critical situation of the nation, Nigerians should not be obsessed by certification. Instead, he asked them to concentrate on development.

”With the economic challenges we are facing, we shouldn’t be wasting time about 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,” he argued.

His comment came in the wake of Atiku Abubakar’s demand for Tinubu’s credentials from the US varsity.

The presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had approached the US District Court in Northern Illinois to compel the Chicago State University (CSU), to release President Tinubu’s academic records, arguing that it would boost his suit challenging his election in the February 25 poll.

He had requested the documents for use in Nigerian courts to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from CSU in 1979 and submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the 2023 presidential election.

Following his move, a US Court ordered CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku.

The university, on Monday, released to Atiku’s legal team, a cache of documents connected to Tinubu’s education at the institution and copies of certificates with redacted names issued to other persons about the same time the Nigerian president finished from the school in 1979.

It also contained Tinubu’s admission records and a letter dated 27 June 2022 confirming that he attended the university from August 1977 to June 1979 majoring in accounting. The letter said Tinubu was awarded Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Honours on 22 June 1979.