The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has reacted to President Bola Tinubu’s certificate scandal at the Chicago State University.
Speaking on ChannelsTV’s flagship morning programme, Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, Tuggar noted that the administration of President Tinubu does not have time to waste on such “trivial matters” adding that these are distractions.
Tuggar noted that the controversy does not cast a shadow on some of the recent international engagements that the president has had.
“There is a tendency to always try to distract and detain people on such frivolous issues as opposed to facing the major issues of development. We don’t have time to waste on that,” he said.
He argued that a former president, Muhammadu Buhari, experienced a similar controversy over his academic qualifications.
“Nobody is wasting time about certificate qualification for somebody who has been a governor of a state, served two terms, and has been on the national stage as a politician.
“You remember that (former) President Buhari had to go through the same thing, where people were actually questioning whether he went to secondary school or not. Someone who had classmates was the captain; he was a head boy,” he said.
The minister claimed that none of the international meetings the president has attended and interacted with have shown interest in the saga.
“The foreign leaders that we’ve been engaging and the international organizations clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such.
“We pay no mind to that,” Tuggar stated.
He added that, as a result of the critical situation the nation is in right now, Nigerians should not be upset by the certification and instead should concentrate on development, adding that the nation’s population is growing at a rate of 3% annually.
”The economic challenges we are facing – we shouldn’t be wasting time about whether some certificate, whether there is a T missing or an I hasn’t been dotted. That shouldn’t be our primary focus at the moment,” he said.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had approached the US District Court in Northern Illinois to compel the Chicago State University (CSU), to release President Tinubu’s academic records.
Atiku argued that it would boost his suit challenging Tinubu’s election in the February 25 presidential poll where he’s seeking among other things, the disqualification of the president for presenting a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Tinubu had pleaded with Judge Nancy Maldonado not to allow the release of his academic records as it would cause him an Irreparable damage.
However, on Saturday night ruling, the US Judge ordered CSU to release the documents to Mr. Abubakar.
In the document seen by JOURNALIST101, one of the striking thing in the records is that the academic record from SouthWest College President Tinubu used in gaining admission into Chicago State University belongs to female.
Another discrepancy is that certificate the President allegedly presented to INEC, to run for the 2023 Presidential elections is different from what CSU issued on the same year Tinubu reportedly graduated from the University. Also, the school has denied ever replacing the certificate of the president.
How on earth can our Foreign Affairs Minister come out to state here that this issue is a distraction and therefore frovolliuuss. I am yet to believe that Tuggar can say such. He should not be in a hurry to forget that the Buhari issue and what we have now are not the same.
Buhari claimed that his certificate got lost, while Tinubu presented forged documents. He claimed to have written his GCE and graduated from Government College in 1970, while the school camme into being in 1974. He claimed his Diploma is from the Chicago State University whereas the school has since distanced itself from the paper. The person he claimed that signed the document is preparing for a legal battle because while Tinubu graduated from the school in 1979, the owner of the signature became the President iif the School in 1998 and has since distanced herself from that. What is this Tuggar man insinuating?
Is it that the prestige, honour and dignity of the country should be sacrificed for the interest of a Drug Lord and Master Forget? God forbid.
I am not surprised at this reaction because he Mr Tuggar is trying to defend his salary at the expence of the nation. God forbid.
This shows that there are allot of criminals in governmental system today he tugger can make such statement Nigerian image is at stake in the international community shame
You seem not to understand the damage this forgery of certificate has done to Nigeria. It is unfortunate.