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Tinubu’s Certificate: Forgery Allegations Baseless, Says Keyamo
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has slammed the forgery allegation levelled against President Bola Tinubu by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar.
This is as he stated that the Chicago State University certificate President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission was secured from a third-party vendor.
The former chief spokesman of the dissolved Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council made the statement via his official X account on Sunday.
The development is coming after the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, filed new documents against Tinubu before the Supreme Court in which he accused the President of forgery and lying under oath, and should therefore be disqualified and removed from office.
The evidence filed by the former vice president was the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University on Monday following the order of an Illinois court in the United States of America instructing the institution to release the academic records as requested by Atiku.
The PDP candidate had requested the documents for use in Nigerian courts to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from the CSU in 1979 and submitted to the country’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, for the 2023 presidential election.
But Keyamo insisted that all the sentiments and allegations of forgery being peddled around the president’s credentials were baseless, adding that it was the duty of Atiku and his supporters to get the undisclosed vendor that issued the replacement certificate to deny its authenticity.
He said, “I have been a defence and prosecution lawyer at the highest level in criminal trials for more than 30 years. You cannot allege or prove forgery except the purported maker of the document denies its authenticity or there is uncontradicted evidence of a forensic report that categorically says the document was deliberately altered or concocted by the person who uttered (in a legal sense) or issued it.
“Applying this principle to the case of Atiku Abubakar Vs Chicago State University, so long as the university openly said they do not issue replacement certificates. But (added) that vendors do so on their behalf. All these noise about so-called forgery are useless until the particular vendor that issued the replacement certificate to Tinubu denies its authenticity. And it is the duty of the accuser to fish out the said vendor and get that evidence. It is not the other way around. He who alleges must prove.”
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, it was the same basic principle he deployed in defence of former President Muhammed Buhari when a similar scenario played out during his tenure.
While reiterating that Tinubu has no case to answer, Keyamo sarcastically urged Atiku to quietly bow out of politics.
“This is the simple principle I laid down in 2019 during our defence of President Buhari that has been so mischievously celebrated as if they have hit the bull’s eye. Unfortunately for them, Tinubu is as clean and white as snow on this issue and we are again waiting for them at the Supreme Court.
“As for Atiku Abubakar (the famed SPV king and the one who disgraced Nigeria internationally with the money-laundering case involving Congressman William Jefferson), we acknowledge the valedictory speech he delivered a few days ago signifying his retirement from politics and we wish him Godspeed in that retirement,” he stated.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a woman in an accident at Okpoko Market on the Asaba-Onitsha Road.
The Sector Commander, Mr Adeoye Irelewuyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Awka on Thursday, said that the woman was hit while she was crossing the road.
He said that the accident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a commercial tow truck with registration number XA550BMA.
“Eyewitness report reaching us indicates that the truck was towing a vehicle in an uncontrollable speed along the axis.
“The vehicle that was being towed got detached from the tow truck.
“It hit and killed a female adult, who was said to be crossing the road, while the tow truck continued its movement.
“FRSC rescue team came to the scene and took the woman to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, where she was confirmed dead and her body deposited at the hospital’s mortuary,” he said.
While sympathising with the family of the dead, the sector commander urged motorists, especially tow truck drivers, to exercise a high level of professionalism.
He also urged the drivers to always use standard equipment and avoid speeding.
The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said the state government’s maize palliative to members of the association made a positive impact on the sector.
Iyiola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
“We received about 150,000 tons of maize in February from the Lagos State government as palliative to cushion the effect of high feed prices.
“The major benefit of the palliative is that it actually cushioned the cost of production for most poultry farmers in the state.
“The palliative was beneficial as it made the cost of some poultry produce, especially eggs to drop,” Iyiola said.
He noted that prior to the palliative, a crate of egg was sold between N3,500 and N3,700 at the farm gate, but after the palliative, it now sells between N3,200 and N3,400.
According to the PAN chair, retailers and middlemen who sell from N3,800 to N4,200 do that for their personal gain.
“We have urged our members to sell their eggs at reasonable prices following the receipt of the palliative from the government.
“We appreciate the Lagos State government for the palliative but we also urge the federal government to do likewise, to further reduce the cost of production in the sector.
“This will consequently lead to drop in the prices of all poultry produce across board,” he said.
He said the palliative was shared among financial members of the association at no extra cost.
“As an association we shared the grains equally across PAN’s eight zones in the state equally. We also mandated each zone not the sell even a grain of the maize.
“We, however, considered new poultry farmers who wanted to the join the association as beneficiaries of the palliative,” said Iyiola.
He noted that through the palliative, more poultry farmers were recruited into the association.
“The maize was shared only to poultry farmers and not feed millers, it is the major component of poultry feed formulation,” he said.
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