Former Labour Party presidential aspirant, Faduri Joseph, has urged the party’s candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party, to stop wasting their time on the controversy surrounding the Chicago State University (CSU) certificate of President Bola Tinubu.
In a statement made available on Saturday, Joseph advised Atiku and Obi to focus their energy and time on stabilising their respective parties and work towards the 2027 elections.
He described the controversy surrounding Tinubu’s academic record as a reflection of the value the nation places on its education, adding that the nation’s political process is faulty.
Joseph said: “I want to respond to the certificate issue of President Bola Tinubu.
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“It’s so surprising that many Nigerians today are crying foul about the certificate of the President. I am not a supporter of President Bola Tinubu. I never supported him, and I am still not supporting him. But where he is right, I will commend him, and where he is wrong, I will also speak out. I remain a voice of robust opposition to the government, even if I will be the lone voice, we are to put the government on their toes.
“In the case of the CSU certificate. Our constitution says anyone intending to contest as President, only needs a Secondary school certificate to be qualified. That shows the value placed on education in our dear country. A lot is wrong with our political process or political requirements. If we must make the issue of certificates very important, then we must start the correction of our political process and, precisely, our political requirements.
“Within the last 20 years, so many politicians have come up with all kinds of certificates. The person at the forefront of contesting President Tinubu’s certificate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in his desperation, thought of what to use to fight, then he took up the issue of the certificate because they just wanted to malign our President. Atiku is only looking for those to join him to malign the President.
“My advice to Mr. Peter Obi is that he should focus on resolving the internal crisis in the Labour Party that has divided the Party into two rather than joining Atiku on this issue. We still have 2027 ahead of us, let’s focus on preparing how to take over our dear country.”
