Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has acknowledged he registered for, wrote, and passed his secondary school leaving certificate examination, the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC), with his name as Sadiq Abubakar but later changed “Sadiq” to “Atiku” with a sworn affidavit.
He threw a challenged to Bola Tinubu to also publicly name the schools he attended, from primary to university, certificates obtained, and to explain when and how he changed his name.
A group loyal to Tinubu had given Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) a seven-day ultimatum to release their academic records or face legal action to compel the disclosure.
Atiku made the clarification through his spokesman Dele Momodu in a post on his X (Twitter) handle.
Momodu explained the clarification became necessary following allegations of forgery against Atiku by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said some members of the APC questioned the name “Sadiq Abubakar” in Atiku’s WAEC certificate as against his other credentials, and he forwarded the accusations to Atiku, who also provided an answer to the discrepancy.
The Nation reporting, Momodu wrote: “The APC busybodies have been bombarding me with allegations of forgery against my Principal, ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR (GCON), which I immediately forwarded to him and here is his copious response:
“Yes I used Sadiq Abubakar to sit for my WAEC and after passing my exams I went to swear an affidavit to say I am the same person as ATIKU Abubakar.
‘“I went to ABU [Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria] as Atiku Abubakar and passed my Exams as Atiku Abubakar. [I was] interviewed as Atiku Abubakar by the Federal Civil Service Commission and hired into the Customs Service as Atiku Abubakar. So where is forgery there?’ – ATIKU ABUBAKAR.
Momodu then asked: “CAN THE APC social media bullies forward the deluge of questions in circulation to their boss [Tinubu] and get instant and direct response…
“I SALUTE ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR…”
