*Says he used her signature on certificate without her knowledge
*Journalism on trial as more information let loose in Nigeria’s space neither confirmed nor denied
*Challenge is where people choose to keep public information private – Investigation
By OUR REPORTER
She said her plan to press a criminal charge against Tinubu was a result of the pressures by her family, friends and associates to clear her name from allegations in the media that she was bribed by the embattled Nigerian president to sign the forged CSU certificate.
If the report just seen by this online newspaper is anything to go by, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have more walks to do as his image crisis continues to increase daily following US court order that his academic records of Chicago State University be released to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar fir use in the nation’s Supreme Court.
The latest information came from report published on Sunday October 1, 2023 by an online newspaper (not The DEFENDER) named, Nigerian Concord Newspaper, which claimed that a former president of the Chicago State University, Dr. Elnara Daniel, said she had concluded plans to drag President Tinubu to a US criminal court for forgery.
The former CSU president, according to some documents the online newspaper claimed to have sighted, reportedly said it was a criminal act for the president of Nigeria to forge her signature on the certificate he is parading.
The DEFENDER reports that its media team has faced serious challenge reporting the Tinubu’s Chicago State University saga as it has the most deliberately conscripted information that nobody in the corridors of power in Abuja ever wanted to talk about, either confirming or dismissing.
The challenge, which a member of the team described as ‘journalism on trial’, grew Monday night after having reported the breaking news of University’s released academic records of Tinubu, some certain local media tried to twist headlines to mean the Chicago State University released documents actually authenticated the certificates he submitted to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja to run for office prior to February 25, 2023 election.
Although no presidency source wanted to commit himself to makibg coment on the sensitive but simplest matter, despite that more information have been let loose in the Nigeria’s media space unspoken about by confirmation or dismissal, media report available to us said the former CSU president had concluded plans to drag Tinubu before a United States Ccourt for forgery.
Dr. Daniel, in the document, sighted by the Nigerian Concord Newspaper, said that she had finalised her papers to sue Tinubu but was only waiting for the institution to release his academic records to the former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday (yesterday) as directed by District Judge Nancy Maldonado before storming the court for her suit against Tinubu.
The former Chicago State University president said she did not sign the controversial certificate which Tinubu presented to INEC during his nomination process last year ahead of early this year’spresidential election, noting that she was not even a staff of the institution until 19 years after the certificate was forged.
Daniel wondered how she could sign a certificate which was allegedly issued in 1979 when she actually began work at the institution in 1998.
She said her plan to press a criminal charge against Tinubu was a result of the pressures by her family, friends and associates to clear her name from allegations in the media that she was bribed by the embattled Nigerian president to sign the forged CSU certificate.
She pressed further in the document that she never had any student by that name “Tinubu” throughout her stay as the president of the Chicago State University.
Fact-checking on the threat by Dr. Elnara Daniel to sue President Tinubu remained in the balance as none of two parties, which should confirm or dismiss the report (Atiku and Tinubu) wanted to talk about it, thus aggravating the challenge of journalism on trial earlier reported, where people choose to keep public information private.
