So I was at the governor’s office in Alausa, Lagos. Accessing the governor was like seeking a needle in a haystack. His press secretary sent words up that an irritant interloper had come to ferret response to a newsmagazine’s damming expose on the governor. After hours of waiting, a commissioner (names withheld) sauntered in and met me where I sat immovably like Mount Kilimanjaro. “You can’t write that story,” he began in a steely voice sauced with veiled threats. “Go back to Ibadan. We will talk to your boss.” That was how the story never saw the light of the day.

The Nigerian Tribune, of which I was its features editor during this period, had sent me in pursuit of the facts or fiction surrounding the newsmagazine report. The principal of that ancient school, Government College Ibadan, (GCI) at the time had suddenly gone AWOL, incommunicado and inaccessible as the proverbial excrement of the masquerade. Grapevines alleged that Lam Adesina, then governor of Oyo state, had ordered that all data of the school’s attendees between the period of Bola Tinubu’s claim of attendance of GCI be brought to him in the government house, where they were brought under governmental lock and key. The media that was seeking corroboration or the antonym of the claims, went after the GCI principal. He had disappeared into thin air. Perhaps, a one-on-one interview with the governor would do?

In 1999, one Waliu Balogun wrote a petition against Tinubu leveling a number of damning allegations that bordered on fraudulent claims of educational attainments. Among other things, he accused Tinubu of lying in an affidavit attached to his Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) form that he lost his degree certificates while he was in exile between 1994 and 1998. The newsmagazine later published those details in a gripping expose which left a sour taste in the mouth.

One after the other, all Tinubu’s claims, sworn to under oath in the Form CF001 he filled with INEC were shredded to smithereens by the magazine’s story. St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, which he claimed to have attended, the magazine said its investigative reporting found never existed just as his name was conspicuously missing from the records of the Government College, Ibadan which he claimed to have attended between 1965 and 1968. Indeed, GCI’s alumni association, the Old Boys of the school, debunked the claim. So also was Tinubu’s claim that he attended Richard Daley College, Chicago, between 1969 and 1971. Punctured also were the governor’s claims of having attended the University of Chicago in the US between 1972 and 1976, as well as obtaining a BSc degree in economics from the university. A request to those institutions for affirmation of Tinubu’s studentship by the magazine was a resounding No. Till date, in spite of his having vanquished the legal principalities spearheaded by Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), with the supreme court voiding Fawehinmi on technical grounds, none of Tinubu’s classmates, schoolmates, or even teachers, has come out in public to counter the facts of the legal behemoth erected against him.

Four years later, in 2003, it was time for Tinubu to fill the Form CF001 again, in pursuit of his second term bid. His enemies who were waiting for him to make those claims again were dazed when they saw what the governor filled. In all the columns, the gentleman simply filled ‘Not Applicable’. Primary School: Not Applicable; Secondary School: Not Applicable; and University: Not Applicable. Could that have meant that the man never attended any school?\?

Tinubu was not alone. Rife as expectations were from the new-found Nigerian Republic in 1999, like alligators, renowned for incredible nasal power of smelling a drop of blood even in ten gallons of water, Nigerians smelled crises in the cache of scandals that involved newly elected officeholders of the republic. Less than three months after the commencement of the Fourth Republic, Nigeria began to manifest noticeable cracks. It took political scientists and students of Marxian dialectics to allay our fears and tell us that those cracks were curative, self-correctional, and akin to the Marxist theory of thesis and antithesis which, when they jam, produce a synthesis.

In quick successions of messy, damming scandals, speaker of the house of representatives, Salisu Buhari, senate president Evan(s) Enwerem, and Bola Tinubu got entangled in seismic, roiling scandals of identity misappropriation, subversion of their oaths of office, and perversion of truth. While the latter two were swept away by the typhoon of the crises, Tinubu not only survived the wire mesh, to spite the allegations, he is, today, one of the top three most consequential, powerful Nigerians alive and a presidential office aspirant to boot.

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Salisu Buhari, the affable and young speaker of the lower parliament had just been unraveled by the media as an age inflator and certificate forger. Hitherto, a Kano-based businessman, Buhari shuttled into politics but two weeks into being in office, the rested news magazine, TheNews, in its February 16, 1999 edition, published details of his age and certificate forgery. The magazine wrote that he was actually born in 1970 and not 1963 as he claimed.

Again, TheNews put a lie to Buhari’s claim of having graduated from the University of Toronto, stating that he not only never attended the school, but the mandatory youth service he claimed to have undergone at the Standard Construction in Kano was also a ruse. On July 23, 1999, like a rain-soaked squirrel, Buhari was contrite, disgraced, and admitted all the allegations. “I apologize to you. I apologize to the nation. I apologize to my family and friends for all the distress I have caused them. I was misled in error by a zeal to serve the nation, I hope the nation will forgive me and give me the opportunity to serve again,” he murmured as he resigned from the house. He was subsequently convicted of certificate forgery, sentenced to two years in prison but later got pardoned by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Senate president, Evan Enwerem, was to kiss the canvass a little while after. In the race for the senate presidency, he had sidestepped his closest sprinter rival for the office, Chuba Okadigbo, by 66 to 43 votes. Shortly after his ascension in 1999, Enwerem was shoved into the sieve, scrutinised on allegation of identity opacity. He was held up on the fire-spitting wire gauze for falsification of his name. A ball-fire of controversy erupted on whether Enwerem’s real name was Evan or Evans. In the melee, on November 18, 1999, his ouster, spearheaded by Okadigbo and his allies, became a fait accompli.

Between his consequential emergence on the political turf of Nigeria in 1999 and now, only an armchair, analytical yokel will underrate or belittle Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s awesome and colonising genius in Nigerian politics. He became so consequential that some translucent analyses compare him to the sage, Obafemi Awolowo. It will appear that immediately he got away from the drowning tidal waves of that identity theft legal tango and the lacerating fisticuffs of his numerous political adversaries, Tinubu tightened his muscles on the political levers of Lagos, a state which had always been the microcosm of Nigeria since it became the federal capital of independent Nigeria in 1960. He saw how the almighty power of the media, like a mammoth whale, almost succeeded in capsizing his ship of state and political career.

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Rising from the ashes of the crises, Tinubu encircled his claw-like fists on the media, meandering himself into its total corpus and essentialising himself in its operations. While English crime thriller writer, René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, popularly known as James Hadley Chase, says that fear opens the wallets of the rich, Tinubu’s street chemistry, which he deploys, says that licit and illicit favours, prebends and perks imprison consciences and arrest captives faster than glue gum traps mice. Unconscionably, Tinubu waves these aces with the magisterial clinicality of a professional executioner, succeeding in the process of harvesting a huge political, media, government, judicial, corporate, etcetera clienteles inside his massive pouch.

The truth is that, since 1960, seldom has Nigeria had a political aficionado who deployed the genius of the streets in the service of politics as Bola Tinubu. Scarcely can anybody have the mis/fortune of encountering him without becoming a captive of his cash influence. Someone once said that even the god of Mammon would be envious of Tinubu’s sagacity in deploying its monetary weapon.

Within the span of his Lagos governorship of eight years, from someone who those who knew him said was passably well-to-do, Tinubu grew a monstrous wealth, such that a 2015 back page opinion piece in the Sun newspaper claimed he owned almost half of Lagos and urged Buhari to clone the Vladimir Putin method with which the Russian president neutralised drug czars who funded his presidential emergence. Within this period, Tinubu also acquired a humongous political influence in Lagos and outside of it that could rank that of Pharaohs and emperors of old. In 2007, an ex-governor, who witnessed the miasma of power flakes encircling him as he arrived at the Lagos airport, jealously told me that it was godlike.

Superficial analyses of Tinubu claim that his vice-hold grips on Lagos can be found in his ability to recreate and “build” persons in state and national offices, as well as sustaining a linear pattern of succession. This, such analysts claim, reflects his sagacity. Those who know the modus operandi of this power retention system machine however put a lie to it. To them, deep underneath it is an opaque, yet fastidiously maintained and pervasively sustained mega corruption and perpetuation of self hegemony by a carefully mastered mind coercion that is promoted by a cultic abidance to an oath of allegiance.

Those who see Tinubu’s strength in his fluid recruitment of aides should also be able to answer why he suffers huge casualties of his investment in such persons? Could it be that he uses them as indentured viceroys? Or that the rebellion we see from them is an attempt to set themselves free of his hold? From Babatunde Fashola, Muiz Banire, Akinwumi Ambode to his erstwhile lickspittle, Rauf Aregbesola, and many others, there must be a single thread that unifies Tinubu’s foot soldiers’ rebellion against him. Unfortunately for Tinubu, this same set of soldiers, knowing the secrets of the sustenance of their power machine, are today against his emergence as Nigeria’s president and will willingly supply the fire that will incinerate his ambition. In Yorubaland today, apart from Lagos and Osun states, which APC governor can Tinubu claim to be under him?

If nothing else, the controversy provoked by Chief Bisi Akande’s ‘My Participations’ unraveled the mythic notion that Tinubu promotes his aides to the top for the love of country. Back and forth arguments, especially on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s nomination in 2015, revealed that not only is the Lagos landlord obsessed with self alone, but the ascension of others in his loop is also secondary and is subordinated to personal interest. The world saw that Tinubu grudgingly acceded to Osinbajo’s candidacy only when his personal interest hit the rocks.

Last week, however, Bola Tinubu paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, a few hours after the latter granted an incoherent interview where he claimed that if he named his successor, the fellow could be assassinated. A content analysis of the president’s statement must have revealed to Tinubu that he could never have been the one Buhari was referring to. Tinubu must know that Buhari knows that a plan to murder Death would be easier done than assassinating Nigeria’s Mafia don, the Capo dei Capi himself.

The most mis-recommending criterion against a Tinubu presidency is that, in mental depth, the Lagos Landlord is just a whiff higher than Muhammadu Buhari. Remove the Cockney accent he feebly mimics, you will find out that most times, his extempore speeches lack coherence, logic, and verve.

Counter arguments have been proffered against the school of thought that says that Tinubu’s ultra-stupendous wealth should not recommend him against vying for the Nigerian presidency. You will recollect that the military apparatchik argued along this line against an MKO Abiola presidency. Abiola, they said, was as wealthy as to grant Nigeria loans. Weak as the argument was, it is strong in Tinubu’s disfavor for its moral and deleterious implications. While the world knew that Abiola’s wealth was procured from international dealings, especially in ITT, Tinubu is said to own a pie in virtually every sector of Nigeria’s economy, ranging from oil, steel, finance (tax), airline, real estate, media, you name it. These are funded in the names of shells and proxies. In all these, as the Americans say, we can see the bucks but not the shop. What morality will Nigeria be preaching by having a president of such opaque composition and disposition?

Whether real or imagined, it is said that the only thing that is real about Tinubu is his person and that every other ascription on him is a borrowed robe. He has not come in the open to effectively disclaim the allegation that his name is not his name; that the parents he claimed were not his; that the certificates he claimed to be his are not and that the schools he claimed to have attended didn’t know him. I don’t know a baggage huger than this for a country like Nigeria that is struggling to sell herself to the world to now have its president burdened by this pernicious pedigree.

With the calamity that the Buhari presidency has posed to Nigeria, it will be more calamitous to have a Tinubu as his successor. Governing Nigeria is not all about identifying surrogates who will man critical political offices for future political gains. Nigeria needs a cerebral, healthy, comparatively morally overboard president, a man, borrowing from Oscar Wilde’s description of his gay partner friend, Sir Alfred Douglas in De Profundis, who is not a man for whom the gutter and all that is in it fascinates.

One would have expected Tinubu to heed the counsel of Apala music icon, Ayinla Omowura. Omowura must have had in mind leaders who are heavy-laden, burdened by the baggage of their past, when he counseled that, as all shrubs and leaves in the forest should not be the predilection of a herbalist seeking curative herbs; not all palm trees in the forest should excite the palm-wine tapper either. In Yoruba, he expressed this as, “gbogbo ewe ko l’ojawe nja; gbogbo ope ko l’onigba ngun”. Sagacious leaders who carry stupendous moral baggage of the Tinubu hue should know the forests they should venture into.

The forests of presidential contest that the Lagos Landlord is about to venture into is what same Omowura, in his vinyl, referred to as “igbo odaju” – the forest of the heartless, the carapace-hard heart hunters. Anyone who does not have the benefit of a real mother – a real mother’s prayers are like magic, steeped in mystical and metaphysical powers. Anyone, said Omowura, who does not have a real mother who can provide witchcraft protection for them, should not venture into the igbo odaju. Never! Abraham Lincoln, the father of the American nation, also alluded to this when he said, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life”.

Some Yoruba lament what they call the predilection of Yoruba in pulling themselves down. This piece would be their perfect example. It is thinking like this that has condemned Nigeria to stagnation. The truth is, Yoruba are very proud of their pedigree and wear it like a lapel on their sleeves. So how can the same Yoruba who have preached moral uprightness to the rest of the world for centuries, now queue behind a man who cannot point his right hand at his father’s homestead? Let the rest of Nigeria be rotten eggs. Yoruba will still underscore societal purity. It should gladden us that Yoruba are the ones revealing the maggots in their home so that when they expose others’ maggots, they will occupy the higher moral ground. It is better for Yoruba not to lift a presidential leg forward than lift one that is riddled with a festering and putrid sore. In any case, what Nigeria needs is a president that is a leader who is not crippled by ill health and is adequately schooled in the nuances of 21st-century solutions to our self-inflicted, existential challenges.

Since independence in 1960, six ‘major’ Yoruba sons have attempted a shot at Nigeria’s civilian presidency (excluding fringe aspirants of the Babangida political guinea-pig era). They are Obafemi Awolowo, Lateef Jakande, MKO Abiola, Bola Ige, Olu Falae, and Olusegun Obasanjo. If Tinubu carries through his recent declaration, he will be joining this pantheon. Of this lot, Tinubu would be the only one whose pedigree is shrouded in a miasma of dubiety.

Yoruba will totally support Tinubu in his presidency dream if he agrees to fill in the INEC forms all those claims he made of his roots in 1999. He must fill in the 2023 Form CF001 St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, as his primary school; Government College, Ibadan; Richard Daley College, Chicago and the University of Chicago as his alma maters, without Tokunbo Afikuyomi swearing on oath that he filled them for him by proxy.

Festus Adedayo is an Ibadan based journalist

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/506076-why-bola-tinubu-must-never-be-nigerias-president-by-festus-adedayo.html

https://www.thecable.ng/why-bola-tinubu-must-never-be-nigerias-president/amp

Interesting

Lol. This Festus don’t seem to understand his history. During the issue of Bola Tinubu for CF.001 INEC where Gani Fawehinmi dragged him then, Femi Falana was the lawyer that defended Asiwaju and he trashed all the allegations against Asiwaju age and certificate by then.

Below is the comprehensive reading from the Lagos state house of assembly.

PREAMBLE
AT the plenary session of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday September 21, 1999, Honourable Thomas Ayodele Fadeyi, representing Mushin Constituency 2 raised an issue under Motion for Adjournment with respect to recent publications in the print and electronic media. It bothers on allegations that the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu perjured and forged the credentials that qualified him to run for the gubernatorial election in Lagos State. The issue generated healthy debate on the floor of the House and the general consensus of members of the House was that the matter should be looked into. Honourable Tajudeen Jaiyeola Agoro, representing Lagos Mainland Constituency 1 thereafter moved a motion to the effect that an adhoc committee of the Lagos State House of Assembly be set up to look into the matter and report back to the House on Monday September 27, 1999. The motion was unanimously carried by members of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The Speaker of the House, the Honourable (Dr.) Adeleke Olorunimbe Mamora was also mandated at the same sitting by the House to constitute the ad-hoc committee, which he did forthwith. The members of the committee are as follows:

Hon. Babajide Omoworare - (Chairman)
Hon. Thomas Ayodele Fadeyi
Hon. Adeniyi Oyemade
Hon. Ibraheem 'Bola Gbabijo
Hon. Saliu Olaitan Musafa

FACTS

The allegations made against the Executive Governor of Lagos State were contained in a petition dated August l2, 1999, written by one Alhaji Jameed Seriki purportedly of 62 Balogun Street, West, Lagos and one Dr. Waliu Balogun-Smith purportedly of 5 Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos to the Inspector General of Police. The documents enclosed by the Petitioners were photocopies of the Governor's inauguration profile, INEC FORM CF. 001, affidavit sworn to at Ikeja High Court of Justice on 29th December 1998, the year books of Government College, Ibrahim and the transcript of Chicago State University.

Specifically, the Petitioners alleged as follows:

1. That there is discrepancy in the age of the Executive Governor of Lagos State since the profile published during his inauguration states that he was born in 1952 and the age on the transcript of the governor at Chicago State University states that he was born in 1954;

2. That the governor did not attend Government College, Ibadan as was stated in his profile and INEC FORM CF. 001; and

3. That the governor did not attend University of Chicago as he claimed in INEC FORM CF. 001 and an affidavit sworn to at the Ikeja High Court of Justice on 29th December 1998.

The above letter and the enclosures were published in Today Newspaper and The Source Magazine. The Committee deemed it fit to invite the Petitioners and therefore wrote the Petitioners. The letters were sent by courier. The Petitioners did not attend the hearing and we have not heard from them up till now. We visited their address at 62 Balogun Street, West, Lagos and 5 Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday September 22, 1999 and found out that the Petitioner neither reside nor carry on any business at the addresses.

Hence, we concluded that the petition was written in fictitious names. Attached herewith and marked "Annexures 1 and 2" are pictures of the buildings bearing the above addresses taken when the Committee visited the addressed. Also attached and marked "Annexures 3 and 4" are copies of the evidence of courier of the letters forwarded to the fictitious Petitioners.

The Committee invited Editors of This Day Newspaper because of the prominence, which they have given to the publication of the allegations. The editors of This Day visited us informally, refusing to oblige our invitation and informing us that they would rely on their publications.

The Executive Governor of Lagos State was also invited and he appeared before the Committee on Thursday September 23, l999 in the company of his counsel, Femi Falana Esquire.

We also invited Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, who represents Lagos State Central Senatorial Constituency at the Senate, National Assembly, Abuja, who recently a a press conference claimed an affidavit sworn to at the Ikeja High Court of Justice on 29th December 1998. Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi appeared before the Committee on Friday September 24, 1999 in the company of his counsel Professor Itsey Sagay (SAN).

In the evening of Thursday September 23, 1999, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly received a Memorandum from Chief Gani Fawehinmi, senior member of the bar and human right activist, written on the same date, in respect of the matter before this ad-hoc Committee. The Memorandum was forwarded to the committee for consideration. Chief Gani Fawehinmi has been in eh fore-front of those calling for the investigation of the allegation against the Executive Governor of Lagos State and that if found culpable, he should be prosecuted.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi had earlier written to the Executive Governor of Lagos State on Monday September 13, 1999 asking him to confirm or deny the allegations against him within 7 days. He had also written to the Inspector General of Police on Tuesday September 21, 1999 to make public the outcome of his investigation into the allegations. The Committee therefore invited Chief Gani Fawehinmi to appear before it and he did appear before the Committee on Saturday September 25, 1999.

The Governor's Testimony

The Governor of Lagos State started his evidence by admitting full responsibility for some of the "needless errors," being pinpointed in recent publications and which formed the basis of the allegations against him.

The Governor told the Committee that as a result of the acrimonious primaries of the Alliance for Democracy in Lagos State and its attendant crisis, the information contained in both the INEC form land affidavit of loss of Certificates was supplied by one of his political aides, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi.

The Governor then submitted to the Committee a copy of the Social Democratic Party senatorial candidature form dated June 1, 1992, which he used to contest the 1992 Senatorial election as candidate of the party for Lagos West.

In the form, which he personally filled, the Governor attached the certificates of Richard Daley College and Chicago State University. For his educational qualifications, he filled B.Sc. Accounting only.

This according to him demonstrated that "needless errors" spotted in the 1999 INEC form were not consistent and that they were "genuine errors". He further directed the attention of the Committee to the INEC form CFO1 that bore a wrong date of twenty-eight December 1999 instead of twenty-eight December 1998. The error he said was made by INEC which printed the form. And not even the Commissioner of Oath spotted this error.

This in his view further confirmed that the hurried and confused manner under which the preparations for the governorship primaries of 1998 were organised, gave rise to error on all sides.

The Governor said he was born Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu in 1952. He attended St. John's Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos and Children's Home School in Ibadan.

The Governor spoke about his difficult and traumatic youth and how he scaled the hurdles of life as a self-made man. After his primary education, the Governor said he was admitted to Secondary Schools but he could not further his education because of his poverty.

The Governor thus had to engage in menial jobs before he proceeded in 1970 to the United States of America, in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece. The Governor informed us that in America, he undertook various odd jobs and tried to improve himself academically. After five years of he most harrowing working experience, the Governor said he enrolled at Richard Daley College in Chicago, which among others offers basic, remedial and academic classes, preparatory to entering Chicago State University.

He presented a photocopy of a certificate issued by Richard Daley College (City Colleges of Chicago), a copy of which is attached herewith and marked "Annexure 5".

Throughout the time he studied in Chicago, the Governor said he also had to fend for himself and that he actually paid his way through school by working extra hours as a tutor in the same University. He said he also studied for extra hours, especially during summer.

The Governor said 27 (twenty-seven) credit hours were transferred from Richard Daley College to Chicago State University, where he obtained Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration. His major was in Accounting.

To back up his claim, the Governor produced the following documents:

1. a copy of a letter dated September 6, 1978 written by Andrew F. Sikula, Dean College of Business Administration, Chicago State University informing Mr. Bola Tinubu that he had made the Dean's honours list by making a 3.50 or better grade point average. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 6";

2. an inter-office memorandum of Chicago State University dated May 28, 1979 written by one Clyde Smith to the Honours Award Committee recommending Bola A. Tinubu as recipient of the outstanding senior award. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 7";

3. copies of May/June 1979 edition of the TEMPO, Chicago State University Campus journal covering Chicago State University Annual Awards Ceremony. Bola Tinubu was described as the President of the Accounting Society and was also said to be running for Student Government Association presidency. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 8";

4. a Chicago State University STATEMENT issued by the Accounts Receivable Department on June 15, 1979 with his social security number. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 9";

5. the Chicago State University Certificate dated 22nd day of June, 1979 conferring upon Bola A. Tinubu the degree of Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration (Accounting with honours). This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 10";

6. a copy of Chicago State University Outstanding Senior Award Certificate dated 5th July 1979, awarded to Bola A. Tinubu. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 11";

7. a copy of Chicago State University Departmental Certificate of Merit dated 5th July, 1979 presented to Bola A. Tinubu. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 12";

8. copy of year book of Chicago State University with the picture of Bola A. Tinubu on page 75. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 13";

9. Chicago State University academic record transcript) dated July 11th 1979. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 14";

10. copy of 1992 Social Democratic Party senatorial candidature form dated June 1 1992. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 15"; and

11. Chicago State University letter dated August 20th 1999 addressed To Whom It May Concern advising that Bola A. Tinubu did indeed attend Chicago State University from August 1977 through June 1979. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Administration with honours on June 22nd 1979. His major was Accounting. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 16".

The Governor informed us that before coming to Nigeria, he worked as an Accountant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells and at GTE Services Corporation. Enclosed herewith and marked "Annexure 17" and "Annexure 18" respectively are the pay slips relating to the above establishments.

He said he came to Nigeria and undertook his National Youth Service between November 12, 1982 and November 11, 1983 with HARBONI LIMITED of IBADAN. A copy of the National Youth Service Corp. discharge certificate number 173807 issued to Tinubu, Bola Adekunle (NYSC/OY/FORN/82/9106) dated November 11, 1983 was given to the Committee as proof. This is herewith attached and marked as "Annexure 19". The Governor said he also worked at Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc and rose to become the Treasurer of the organisation. To buttress this claim, he tendered the following documents:

1. A copy of Mobil Oil Nigeria, Plc Certificate of Service dated May 14th, 1992 issued in favour of Mr. B.A. Tinubu. Herewith attached and marked "Annexure 20" is a copy of the said certificate.

2. A letter written by Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc dated December 29th, 1998 addressed to whom it may concern confirming that Mr. Tinubu was an employee of the Company between December 1, 1983 and mMay 17th, 1992. He was said to have left on May 18th, 1992 on public service lease of absence and did not return at the end of the leave. Herewith attached and marked "Annexure 21" is a copy of the said letter.

3. A welcome address by Paul L. Caldwell, Chairman/Managing Director of Mobil Producing Nigeria at the dinner given in honour of Senator Bola Tinubu on June 11th, 1992. Herewith attached and marked "Annexure 22" is a copy of the said address.

When questions were asked about age discrepancies, he insisted that he was born in 1952 and not 1954. In support of his claim, he referred to INEC FORM. 001 and his gubernatorial profile that put his year of birth as 1952. This tallies with his 1992 voters registration card and the Social Democratic Party senatorial candidature form dated June 1 1992, item 2 of which put his date of birth at March 29th, 1952.

The following documents were also made available to the Committee by the Governor.

1. His international passport number A0004062. Herewith attached and marked "Annexure 23" is a copy of the relevant page of the said passport;

2. His United States of America refugee travel passport number A74685870. Herewith attached and marked "Annexure 24" is a copy of the relevant page of the said passport; and

He concluded that errors on his INEC form were not deliberate, as he did not gain any advantage whatsoever by claiming 1954 or presenting bogus academic qualification since he already had the required minimum qualification.

When the Governor was asked why he did not respond to the allegations promptly, he said he felt they were all part of the campaign of calumny against him which began with the allegations that his administration was slow.

Asked about his view on the reactions of his aides to some of the allegations, he said that at a stage in the saga, the events took a life of its own with his aides issuing statements and papers on his behalf.

Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi' Testimony

He informed the Committee that he was heading the unit of the Governor's campaign responsible for processing the form and he accepted responsibilities for the mistakes in the INEC forms. He refuted that the form was signed at 2 a.m. He said the forms were filled for the Governor in a rush and under tensed circumstances, at a point when there were problems and crises in the party, Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos State during the gubernatorial primary electioneering campaigns. He said as a result of the crises, they had very little time to fill land process the INEC form. He said the Governor also hurriedly signed the forms so as to beat the deadline given by INEC for the submission of all forms.

He also commented on the similarities and distinctions between the case at hand and that of Alhaji Salisu Ibraham Buhari, the former Speaker of house of Representatives. He said the only similarity is that both the former Speaker and the Lagos State Governor are public office holders. Otherwise, both cases are different in the following manner:

He said the former Speaker was under-aged at the time he contested the election and needed an advantage for eligibility, while the Governor was over the stipulated age. For example, in the case of Senate President, Evan Enwerem, the Senate Committee trying him discharged him on the allegation of age impropriety because even if there were two different ages, he was still above the minimum age requirement as at the time of his election.

The Governor has a degree from Chicago State University while the former Speaker did not even have a School Certificate.

The constitution provides immunity for the Governor from being ,tried or sentenced while Alhaji Salisu Ibrahim Buhari as the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives had none.

He concluded that the mix-ups were caused by mistakes and not intentionally done as in the case of Alhaji Salisu Ibrahim Buhari.

Lastly, he said no crime was committed by the Governor and the Governor should be left to do what he has been voted for and elected into office to do.

The Testimony of Chief Gani Fawehinmi

Chief Gani Fawehinmio was of the view that the primary duty of the Lagos State House of Assembly is to determine if any law has been breached by the Lagos State Governor a this stage and not to determine the impeachment of the Governor now. He said the House of Assembly must find out if the Governor has committed any crime against the laws of Lagos State.

The issue according to him in that there are 2 (two) affidavits deposed to by the Governor of Lagos State and false declaration has been established. These affidavits are in INEC FORM CF. 001 deposed to before the Commissioner for Oath on 28th December 1998 and an affidavit titled "Affidavit in respect of loss of certificates" sworn to at the Ikeja High Court of Justice on 29th December 1998. Crime according to him has been committed since the provision of Sections 191 and 192 of the Criminal Code, cap. 32, Laws of Lagos State 1994 has been breached.

https://nigeriaworld.com/focus/republic/lagosrelease.html

Below is Tinubu listed as alumni of Chicago State University in the school Wikipedia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chicago_State_University_people

Below is Tinubu in the hall of fame of Richard J Daley College.

INEC did not stop him in 1992, they did not stop him in 1998, they will NEVER stop him in 2022.

His official transcript from Chicago State University is with them at INEC.

You can only write in the media while the grassroots thumbprints the votes. But if this is PDP tactics against Asiwaju, then I say they are the most foolish opposition in the world.

Democrats did the same for Trump in 2017, instead of campaigning for their candidate they were campaigning against Trump. Social media mob cannot define the actual president, they are just bunch of vocal minority. Asiwaju knows this, that is why he is confident of winning.

The Bullion vans doppelganger.

many people against this thief. only the yorubas are supporting their son. no to Tinu+thief

Yoruba will totally support Tinubu in his presidency dream if he agrees to fill in the INEC forms all those claims he made of his roots in 1999.

He must fill in the 2023 Form CF001 St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, as his primary school; Government College, Ibadan; Richard Daley College, Chicago and the University of Chicago as his alma maters, without Tokunbo Afikuyomi swearing on oath that he filled them for him by proxy.

Oluwole certifications

Ipob News

BAT2023

Hisbah21:
many people against this thief. only the yorubas are supporting their son. no to Tinu+thief

Ibo man. But Atiefku and obi Pandora are saints?

[s]

naijaguy123456:
Ipob News

[/s]Why Bola Tinubu Must Never Be Nigeria’s President, By Festus Adedayo

Tinubu’s Presidency: Affliction Must Not Rise A Second Time - Abimbola Adelakun
https://punchng.com/tinubus-presidency-affliction-must-not-rise-a-second-time/

2023: Tinubu Cannot Win Because Nigerians Don't Want Him - Seun Osewa

DiscoverID:

Ibo man. But Atiefku and obi Pandora are saints?

indeed thief Atiku and Obi Robber lol

The questions about this man's identity keeps mounting and rather than address it, his hired e-army of idiots come at you with sour hate!

It's from the stable of Punch Newspaper. Opinion is cheap. Asiwaju Tinubu was the only one who immortalised Bagauda Kalto, a journalist that paid the ultimate price during the struggle to recover the June 12 mandate freely won by the late Chief MKO Abiola,GCFR, but annulled by the unpatriotic IBB .

The poor widow and children the late Journalist, Bagauda Kalto, left behind, are today grateful that Asiwaju Tinubu immortalised their late father and attest to it .

Bagauda Kalto, unlike Festus Adedayo, is not among rich wealthy Journalists. The only reality is that most of the Punch writers won't vote on election day, in fact, some of them like Abimbola Adelakun are currently based overseas expecting the less discerning and politically naive to take them serious

Please vote for Asiwaju Tinubu. Asiwaju Tinubu is extremely capable and competent to lead Nigeria to greater heights. He has a large heart for helping Nigerians regardless of wherever they come from. Bagauda Kalto,a Journalist, may have died unsung but for Asiwaju Tinubu.
May God bless Nigeria forever.

Tinubu has been trending since Tuesday,and it is not stopping soon.

Jagaban

Surprised they have haven’t called Adebayo an Ipob yet,according to Yoruba Muslims everybody is suppose to love and cherish tinubu and anybody who doesn’t is automatically Ibo or ipob