Mr. Kalu Kalu Agu, a lawyer, is the front man in the case the former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, brought against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the authenticity or otherwise of the Chicago State University degree certificate which President Tinubu submitted to the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) preparatory to the 2023 election. He speaks with SAM NWAOKO on the recent oral deposition of the Registrar of Chicago State University, Mr. Caleb Westberg, and on issues around the matter.
Have you filed your Chicago findings at the Supreme Court?
That I cannot confirm.
But is the process ongoing?
It is ongoing.
How will this matter benefit Nigeria and Nigerians because it looks like it’s hanging here and there?
It’s not hanging anywhere. It is beneficial to Nigerians. There is social outcry as we speak today where people are condemning the forgery by Mr. President. It is everywhere in the social media. Every platform you go to, people are condemning it and people are even making a reference to Mmesoma Ejike’s case. They are saying this is a young girl who has now been banned from participating in JAMB exam for the next five years because she forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result. Today, somebody forged his Chicago State University certificate and people are reading other meanings into it.
At the end of the day, Nigeria and Nigerians will reap immense benefit from it wherein people will come out to condemn that this is wrong. The courts will also condemn it. Of course, in the past, our courts have come up to say no, we won’t endorse forgery. We won’t endorse illegality and that is what they are expected to do now. And once it is done, Nigerians will benefit because any person coming into official or public space would know that he must live above board.
The 1999 affidavit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mentioned Richard Daley College, Chicago, the former South west College. People are wondering why Alhaji Atiku Abubakar didn’t drag that college to court as he did Chicago StateUniversity so as to get new insights into the gender of candidate Bola A. Tinubu. Why is that college not in the picture here sir?
This struggle has been on for some time now and what people don’t really know is that this thing is time-consuming; you spend a lot of resources and all of that. At the moment, what the law is and which Atiku has now established from the oral deposition of the Registrar of Chicago State University is that the certificate Tinubu submitted was forged. It was never issued by the school. This is all Atiku needs. All these other narratives that you are reading and hearing are not important, legally speaking. They are not and as we speak now, the law says if you submit a forged certificate, you are not qualified to run. Today, it has been established beyond reasonable doubt that Tinubu submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This other conversation around the school, that Chicago State University confirmed that he graduated from the school, is a non-starter.
It is a non-starter in the sense that even the documents they even produced from their custody saying that Tinubu claimed that he attended Government College, Lagos and graduated in 1970 is also another issue. That alone rubbishes all that the claims that he graduated from that school. It is enough. So, for us to now go on another frolic of another adventure into what happened in Richard Daley College is, to me, another waste of time and resources. You also know that today, we are racing against time.
Just like the first question of whether those documents have been placed before the Supreme Court, we are racing against time. The evidence, the fact, the document we have is enough. If we were in a sane society, I’m using the words ‘sane society’, by now Tinubu should have resigned his position as the president of this country and hand over because everything around him is shrouded in forgery. Everything around him – his age, his primary school, his secondary school and then university certificate are shrouded in forgery. And then, don’t forget that before the end of this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would release documents concerning Tinubu. That one would end this whole conversation. It will end it, but the one we already have is enough, legally speaking.
Is there any middle ground in this matter – is there a ground for the resolution of this matter between Atiku’s camp and Tinubu’s camp?
The middle grounds are: One, let him resign and take the path of honour and save Nigeria further disgrace in this matter. The other middle ground is if he refuses to resign, then the Supreme Court would do the needful. I say this because I don’t see the Supreme Court, in the face of all these glaring evidences say otherwise. Then it means that the Supreme Court validated criminality in Nigeria.
Tinubu’s camp has accused Atiku of betrayal, of viciousness and that he is exhibiting desperation. How do you react to this?
Election is a process. It starts from primary election to the main election process and after the election to the tribunal level till the matter gets to the Apex Court. That is the process. So, any person that has indicated interest and finds his name on the ballot would only end the process when the Apex Court gives its verdict. This is what Atiku Abubakar said clearly yesterday (on Thursday), that this matter will end once the Supreme Court gives its verdict. If the Supreme Court rules in his favour, he will be happy, if the Supreme Court doesn’t rule in his favour, he will move on. So, I don’t see any form of desperation. So, somebody contesting election is desperation? If that is the case, they too will also be guilty of desperation because they have indicated interest to run election, which is a full cycle.
If you were to advice Tinubu, if you have the opportunity of offering him advice, what will you tell him?
There are two known incidents that happened before which are of national interest. The first one was Salisu Buhari. Salisu Buhari came out and pleaded with Nigerians forgiveness and Nigerians did forgive him. Mmesoma, just of yesterday, also committed forgery. She came out remorsefully and said please forgive me, I won’t do it again. Nigerians did forgive her. We are now faced with Tinubu’s own. Nobody is above the law. What I expect Tinubu to do is to also take this path of honour and say please Nigerians, forgive me and Nigerians will definitely forgive him.
Remember that when former President Goodluck Jonathan found himself in a position that required him to take a decision, he said “nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.” That is my advice for Tinubu.
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