Tinubu: Trump called Nigeria ‘disgraced country’ because certificate forger is president, Obi declares

Peter Obi, former Anambra governor and African Democratic Congress chieftain, says American President Donald Trump called Nigeria a disgraced country because a certificate forger is allowed to be its president.

Mr Obi, at his official declaration for the ADC presidential ticket before his supporters in Akwa Ibom on Saturday, took a jab at President Bola Tinubu, referring to the controversies around his certificate.

“I went to Indonesia. I went to their election (organiser), and I asked the chairman, ‘What is the qualification to be a president?’ and he told me. I said, supposing somebody forged and his qualification is forged. He said what do I mean? ‘You will be jailed,’” Mr Obi said.

Citing Indonesia’s strict law on certificate forgery, the politician recalled the Supreme Court verdict that dismissed Mr Tinubu’s certificate forgery allegation as a pre-election matter.

Mr Obi said, “Here, (Nigeria) they’ll tell you it is before the election, a pre-election matter. Somebody forged a certificate or does not have a certificate. What a country. That’s why the American president said that ‘disgraced country called Nigeria.’”

The president’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

Mr Tinubu’s Chicago State University certificate forgery scandal has lingered since opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar requested court approval to subpoena Mr Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU because he believed the documents would clarify glaring inconsistencies in the president’s background, including publicly available documents that suggested that the institution, in the 1970s, admitted a female student bearing the name Bola Tinubu, who was born on March 29, 1954.

In a pushback against Mr Abubakar’s legal move, Mr Tinubu had filed a motion to prevent a federal court in the United States from releasing his university academic records to the opposition leader.

However, the Nigerian Supreme Court dismissed new evidence in the certificate forgery scandal, reaffirming Mr Tinubu’s electoral victory. The matter continues to provoke debate among Nigerians.