Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar has said the present administration does not have time to waste on what he called “frivolous issues” over the row around President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on whether or not he attended and obtained a certificate from Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had requested that Tinubu’s academic records be made available by the CSU, as contained in his application to the US District Court in Northern Illinois.
The records were to be reflected in his appeal at the Supreme Court where he is contesting the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) which dismissed his petition almost in its entirety.
And as ordered by the court, the academic records of Tinubu were Monday released to Atiku’s legal team by the varsity.
The university registrar had made an oral deposition of the documents, but there were different interpretations.
Tuggar speaks
Featuring Wednesday on Channels TV Sunrise, a breakfast show, Tuggar said the certificate saga had no effect whatsoever on the recent international engagements of President Tinubu.
He said: “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.
“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.
“The foreign leaders with whom we’ve been engaging and the international organisations clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such.
“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,” Tuggar further said.
…Certificate not fake – Presidency
Speaking in similar vein, the Presidency said the CSU had affirmed under oath that Tinubu attended and graduated from the institution, and that the school does not handle replacements for lost certificates.
Reacting on Wednesday, President Tinubu’s media aide, Temitope Ajayi, argued that was no truth in the forgery claim, adding that no person can forge a certificate he already has.
He said there was no truth in the forgery claim, adding that no person can forge a certificate he already has.
Taking to his account Wednesday on the X formerly known as Twitter, the presidential media aide wrote: “We should be clear.
“In the deposition made by the Chicago State University, there was nowhere the University said the certificate presented to INEC by President Tinubu is fake. The University insisted under oath that President Tinubu graduated with honours and even at that, replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors not the University.
“The claim that President Tinubu submitted fake certificate to INEC does not make sense. A man cannot forget the academic records he possesses. You can only forge what you don’t have.”
Malagi on fake news
Meanwhile, Minister of Information and National Orientation Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi has said fake news is a phenomenon that worries the entire world.
He, however, said Nigeria is beginning to take remarkable steps to stem the tide of fake news in the country.
Malagi stated this Wednesday when he received the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to Nigeria Mr Viacheslav Bril, who paid him a courtesy call at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
“Fake news is a phenomenon that worries the entire world. The coming of social media and new media has helped to fuel fake news.
“Much as the social media and new media are desirable, in terms information flow and dissemination, we also have to be careful with the way we consume information in the social media and new media.
“It is noteworthy that Nigeria is beginning to take remarkable steps to stem the tide of fake news.
“The phenomenon of fake news bothers the entire world and we are happy that the international community is now coming together to have a blueprint that will help to streamline the activities of actors in that sector,” he said.
According to him, “nobody is interested in stifling information flow anywhere, but what we want is credible information.”
He said Mr President had given the ministry a marching order to give only what is genuine and honest to Nigerians.
“Any information that is not genuine and transparently accountable is not desirable.
“This ministry is leading the actualization of credible information management between the Nigerian government, the Nigerian people, and, by extension, the international community,” he said.
Speaking further, Malagi expressed the desire of Nigeria to partner with Belarus in the area of agriculture in order to be sufficient in food production.
“One of the key eight priority areas of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is food security, which he declared an emergency on day one.
“The Republic of Belarus has the technology and the expertise, especially investment in mechanised agriculture.
“We assure you that Nigeria is ready to partner with you in that respect. I am happy that you mentioned that you already have plans in place to meet with the Minister of Agriculture so that the two countries can work together to boost food production, because that is what we need.
“We don’t want food imports. What we want is our ability to produce this food for our people. We have the arable land; we have the people. What we lack are the technologies and the necessary investment in the value chain,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Ambassador Bril sought the cooperation of Nigeria in the area of agriculture and education.
“We are very strong in agriculture. For example, the Republic of Belarus is responsible for almost 30% of the fertilisers production which is very important for food security in the world, especially these days.
“Belarus is very strong in terms of mechanisation of agriculture. We can assist to Nigeria to sell farms, food processing plants, storages and many other things. .
“Belarus tractors are well known brand of tractors. We reproduce every kind of tractors in the world in the last century, and some of them are still working in Africa since 1970s,” he said.