The Peoples Democratic Party, Akwa Ibom State Chapter has described as fake, news circulating in the social media that Governor Umo Eno celebrated Alhaji Abubakar Atiku’s efforts in exposing President Bola Tinubu’s alleged fake certificate.
This was contained in a press release signed by Borono Bassey, the State Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party, Akwa Ibom State on Tuesday.
‘‘The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Akwa Ibom State was drawn earlier today, to an obviously fake news item being circulated on social media alleging that our Party and His Excellency, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Umo Eno were secretly celebrating Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s efforts in exposing President Tinubu’s alleged fake certificate,’’ the release said.
Also read: Breaking: Pastor Umo Eno wins Akwa Ibom Governorship race
Recall that Governor Eno, a PDP member, accompanied President Tinubu of All Progressives Congress to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Bassey stated ‘‘We hereby state as follows: The matter which is the subject of the fake news is in court and therefore subjudice. By that very fact, neither the Governor nor the Peoples Democratic Party at the state level is competent to comment on it.
‘‘The Governor, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno as a law abiding citizen, who believes in the supremacy of the law, has tremendous respect for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Alhaji Bola Tinubu, the PDP whose platform Pastor Umo Eno was elected as Governor, and the Presidential candidate of the Party, His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
‘‘The Governor of Akwa Ibom State is not a party on record in the suit referred to in this risible rumour and therefore can only await the judgement of the court, and he will join in the usual respectful and deferential chorus of “As the court pleases!!”
He, therefore, urged well-meaning Nigerians to ignore the ill-intentioned attempt to drag the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the State Chapter of our great Party, the PDP into a matter that is undergoing the processes of law.
Straightnews gathered that Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 and 2023 elections, had approached a United States court for the Northern District of Illinois to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records.
The PDP candidate sought 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.
Ruling on Saturday, Justice Nancy Maldonado gave the university up till 12 noon on Monday to deliver the documents to Atiku after dismissing Tinubu’s objection in the judgment.
Maldonado affirmed the September 20 decision of a magistrate judge of the court, Jeffery Gilbert, ordering the CSU to release Mr Tinubu’s academic records as requested by Atiku. She insisted Atiku had the right to have access to the records.
CSU presented the academic records to Atiku’s legal team on Monday. The records also include 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.
