•To Stop His Bid For Presidency
In a bid to stop his presidential bid, many of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s critics have been digging deeper to bring up all the old allegations earlier paraded in the public domain.
Have you noticed that since Asiwaju Bola Tinubu held his famous Press Conference weeks back in Abuja where he told the world that he had formally informed Pres Muhammadu Buhari that he will be contesting the forthcoming 2023 presidential election many questions have been raised about his past?
Critics and haters have gone back to the past to dig up all sorts of misdeeds again him. And they have questioned the schools he attended. Some have even brought some of the old issues that had been laid to rest about him in the late 90s.
Already, Chicago University has confirmed that Tinubu is a former student. According to a response from the University.” In an earlier letter dated August 20, 1999, and signed by the then Registrar, Lois Davis, the University stated that Tinubu was its student between 1977 and 1979″. He wrote: “Please be advised that Bola A. Tinubu did indeed attend Chicago State University from August 1977 through June 1979. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and Administration with honours on June 22, 1979. His major was Accounting”.
Also attached to Tinubu’s form CF004 submitted to INEC during his re-election bid in 2003 was a commendation letter from CSU recognising his performance and “high scholastic achievement”.
His former boss at EXXON Mobil, Chief Pius Akinyelure, also wrote about Tinubu. “I met Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the first time when we shortlisted his name at Mobil Oil. He appeared for the interview and we scrutinised his credentials. We referred all his credentials to the awarding institutions and we found out at Mobil that they were genuine and authentic. He would never have been employed by our organisation if any, no matter how minute, of his credentials, was found wanting. We employed him as Senior Auditor”.
Dr Festus Adebayo in his column wrote an article on Why Tinubu Must Never Be Nigeria’s President. In his article, he wrote how in the 90s as Features Editor of The Nigerian Tribune, years back, he had gone in pursuit of the facts or fiction behind Tinubu’s past, and how he didn’t make headway. He also wrote about how a magazine published a story that showed that all the claims Tinubu made about his schooling were not correct and how 4 years later, in 2003 when it was time for Tinubu to fill the form CF001 again in pursuit of his second term bid, he did not fill the information he filled in the earlier form.
“Between his consequential emergence on the political turf of Nigeria in 1999 and now, only an armchair, analytical yokel will underrate or belittle Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s awesome and colonizing genius in Nigerian politics.
“The truth is that, since 1960, seldom has Nigeria had a political aficionado who deployed the genius of the streets in the service of politics as Bola Tinubu. Scarcely can anybody have the misfortune of encountering him without becoming a captive of his cash influence. Someone once said that even the god of Mammon would be envious of Tinubu’s sagacity in deploying its monetary weapon.
Within the span of his Lagos governorship of eight years, from someone who those who knew him said was passably well-to-do, Tinubu grew a monstrous…
Mr. Segun Ayobolu, who was the Chief Press Secretary to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at that time, promptly responded and explained why Adedayo’s logic in the write up was faulty. The questions about Tinubu’s certificates, institutions and age raised by Dr. Adedayo are critical and cannot be ignored especially by someone who wants to be President of Nigeria.”
“But Festus’s column is even more baffling because he is in a position to know and I am convinced that he does know that these Questions have been thoroughly investigated and conclusively addressed by the appropriate institutional authority legally competent to do so. What then could be his motive? I cannot pretend to know.”
He went down the memory lane. “Shortly after he was sworn in as Governor of Lagos State in May 1999, there were allegations widely published in the media that Tinubu had perjured and forged the credentials that qualified him to run for the gubernatorial election in the state. The allegations were contained in a Petition dated August 12, 1999, written by one Alhaji Jameed Seriki of No. 62 Balogun Street, West, Lagos, and one Dr. Waliu Balogun-Smith of No. 5, Unity Road, Ikeja.”
“The kernel of their allegations were: (1) that there was a discrepancy in the age of the governor since the profile published during his inauguration stated that he was born in 1952 and the age on his transcript at the Chicago State University claimed that he was born in 1954; (2) that the governor did not attend Government College, Ibadan, as was stated in his profile and INEC FORM CF.001; and (3) the governor did not attend University of Chicago as claimed in INEC FORM CF and an affidavit sworn to at the Ikeja High Court of Justice on 29th December 1998.
It was unanimously agreed by all legal authorities that the governor enjoyed legal immunity courtesy Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution and that the Lagos State House of Assembly was the only competent institution that could investigate the governor and take punitive action against him if he was deemed to have committed acts constituting gross misconduct.”
“Consequently, following a Motion moved by Honourable Tajudeen Jaiyeola Agoro, representing Lagos Mainland Constituency, the then Speaker, Dr. Adeleke Olorunimbe Mamora, on Tuesday, September 21, 1999, set up a 5-man ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations and report back to the House.
The committee comprised Hon. Babajide Omoworare (Chairman), Hon. Thomas Ayodele Fadeyi, Hon. Adeniyi Akinmade, Hon. Ibrahim Gbola Gbabijo and Hon Saliu Olaitan Mustapha.
In its report to the House, the Committee stated that “The Committee deemed it fit to invite the Petitioners and, therefore, wrote the petitioners. The letters were sent by courier. The petitioners did not attend the hearing and we have not heard from them up till now. We visited their addresses at 62 Balogun Street, West, Lagos and 5, Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, September 22, 1999 and found out that the petitioners neither reside nor carry on any business at the addresses. Hence, we concluded that the petition was written in fictitious names.
Despite this, the Committee continued with its investigation. Continuing, the committee stated in its report that.
Giving further insight into their interaction with the governor, the Committee’s report stated: “The Governor spoke about his difficult and traumatic youth and how he scaled the hurdles of life as a self-made man.
After his primary education, the Governor said he was admitted into a secondary school, but he could not further his education because of his poverty.
The Governor thus had to engage in menial jobs before he proceeded to the United States of America (USA) in search of the Golden Fleece. The Governor informed us that in America, he undertook various odd jobs and tried to improve himself academically.
After 5 years of the most harrowing work experience, the Governor said he enrolled at Richard Daley College in Chicago, which among others offers basic, remedial and academic classes, preparatory to entering Chicago State University.
He presented a photocopy of a certificate issued to him by Richard Daley College (City Colleges of Chicago), a copy of which is attached as herewith and marked “Annexure 53 .
Throughout the time he studied in Chicago, the Governor said he also had to fend for himself and that he actually paid his way through school by working extra hours as a tutor in the same university. He said he studied for extra hours especially during summer. The Governor said 27 (twenty seven) credit hours were transferred from Richard Daley College to Chicago State University, where he obtained Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration. His major was in Accounting”.
To back up his claims, Tinubu provided the committee with, at least, 11 documents, which were attached to its report as annexures. These included a copy of a letter dated September 6, 1978, written by Andrew F. Sikula, Dean, College of Business Administration, informing Mr. Bola Tinubu that he had made the Dean’s honours list by making a 3.50 or better grade point average; an inter-office memorandum of Chicago State University dated May 28, 1979 written by one Clyde Smith to the Honours Award Committee recommending Bola A. Tinubu as recipient of the outstanding senior award; copies of May/June 1979 edition of the TEMPO, Chicago State University Campus journal, covering Chicago State University Annual Awards Ceremony.
Bola Tinubu was described as the President of the Accounting Society and was also running for Student Government Association presidency; a Chicago State University statement issued by the Accounts Receivable Department on June 15, 1979 with his social security number; the Chicago State University Certificate dated 22nd June 1979, conferring on Bola A. Tinubu the degree of Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration (Accounting with honours); a copy of Chicago State University year book with the picture of Bola A. Tinubu on page 75; Chicago State University academic record transcript dated 11th July 1979; a Chicago State University letter dated August 20th 1999 addressed To Whom It May Concern advising that Bola A.Tinubu did, indeed, attend Chicago State University from August 1977 through June 1979; his pay slips when he worked as an accountant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells and at GTE Services Corporation before returning to Nigeria; a copy of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc Certificate of Service dated 14th May 1992 issued in favour of Mr. B. A. Tinubu and a letter written by Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc dated December 29th, 1998, addressed to whom it may concern, confirming that Mr. Tinubu was an employee of the Company between December 1, 1983 and May 17th, 1992.
When he appeared before the Committee on Friday, September 24, 1999, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, according to the committee’s report, “informed the committee that he was heading the unit of the Governor’s campaign responsible for processing the form and he accepted responsibilities for the mistakes in the INEC forms.
He said the forms were filled for the Governor in a rush and under tense circumstances at a point when there were problems and crises in the party, Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos State during the gubernatorial primary electioneering campaigns. He said as a result of the crises, they had very little time to fill and process the INEC form. He said the Governor also hurriedly signed the forms so as to beat the deadline given by INEC for the submission of all forms”.
It was the legal opinion of Professor Itse Sagay (SAN) who accompanied Senator Afikuyomi to the proceedings, as cited in the committee’s report, that “even if the allegations against the Executive Governor of Lagos State are true, they are not impeachable offenses as the Lagos State House of Assembly only possesses power to impeach for gross misconduct in relation to his conduct while in office; that it is more of a moral matter than a legal issue. He suggested that the Governor should apologize to the people of Lagos State concerning the mistakes he made in his forms, which were not intentional”.
Chief Gani Fawehimmi whose testimony is also contained in the committee’s report “was of the view that the primary duty of the Lagos State House of Assembly is to determine if any law has been breached by the Lagos State Governor at this stage and not to determine the impeachment of the governor now.
Mr. Falana also addressed at length, issues raised regarding Tinubu’s age declaration.
He wrote in his statement to the committee and contained in its report that “From all the documents tendered before the committee, it is abundantly clear that the alleged false declaration of age as per the documents submitted to INEC before the election is an isolated inconsistency.
In other words, whereas all the other documents contain one and identical age i.e. 1952, the academic transcript of Chicago State University (which was not made under oath and which could not be elevated to the pedestal of a sworn-declaration) in which 1954 was given as the date of birth of the Governor stands alone. It is predominantly clear, therefore, that taken together the age-claim of the Governor, which he has continued to maintain, and the age contained in the other documents tendered, 1952 is the correct and accurate birth year of the Governor”.
Beyond this, Mr. Falana submitted to the committee that “Assuming without accepting that the 1954 birth year contained in the transcript is the actual birth year of the Governor, does it affect his eligibility as the Executive Governor of Lagos State as regards age-qualification? Under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to be eligible to contest as a Governor of a state, a contestant, among other requirements, must be 35 years of age. Even if the Governor was born in 1954, he was qualified on age grounds, to contest the gubernatorial election when he did. In conclusion, it is an incontrovertible fact that the inconsistency of the Governor’s age contained in the said transcript with that contained in the Governor’s other documents did not secure for him any advantage in the elections that brought him to office.
The Committee’s finding on the allegation of forgery was that “We have NO evidence that any forged document was presented to INEC. The only certificate presented to INEC was a transcript of Chicago State University Degree, which was subsequently found to be genuine”.
In conclusion, the Committee wrote that “However, we wish to state that the Governor’s inability to clear these issues promptly left the field to numerous aides and well-wishers who circulated statements and documents, some of which the Governor claimed were neither from him nor authorized by him. Since the Governor himself accepted responsibilities for the “needless errors” made, and in any event, he is responsible for documents signed by him, we strongly advise him to be more careful in ensuring the accuracy of documents that carry his signature in future”.
Following from the aforementioned, it is clear that Dr Festus Adedayo swims and fishes in the gutter of rumour, gossip, baseless insinuations, misleading innuendoes and unsubstantiated allegations to question the parentage and ancestry of Tinubu in his quest to impugn his character and malign his integrity.
This is unbecoming of a supposed scholar and intellectual of his stature. He cites no iota of proven and credible evidence for his allegations of corruption against Tinubu. What he seeks to do is to cast doubt on Tinubu’s character and moral integrity to lead Nigeria as President. The ultimate test of character is the conduct of life.
“Some people get easily angry whenever they see me being insulted. I think that is childish. I’m a politician and it is my right to be insulted. It is my right to be called names, it is my right to get bad wishes from whoever I outrun in the polity. Politics, sometimes, is a bully game, don’t get distracted, keep your eyes on the ball. It is a game of number but equally important, a game of common sense with sole aim of improving people’s lives with right policies. Mohammed Ali was a great boxer, he punched you once, he ran away, he made you angry so much that you lose your focus and balance, then he would hit you hard..Those who must beat him must never be angry or lose focus while fighting, keep your strategy to yourself….win some, lose some, that’s politics but you must strive to win all but you can never win all…..
“As for insults and abuse, I have received uncountable insults since I joined politics. You can see where I am today politically. I’m a product of insults, left right and centre, that’s my food and medicine. I’m not complaining, keep it up….”
City People has discovered a lot about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was elected Senator for the Lagos West Senatorial district in Lagos State, In 1993. He was elected Governor of Lagos State (1999 – 2007). This is the man, who has been described as one of Nigeria’s most successful politicians ever. He is currently the National leader of the ruling party in Nigeria, All Progressive Congress (APC).
Where was he born? He was born in Lagos, to the illustrious Tinubu Family of Lagos State. He attended Richard Daley College, Chicago Illinois, where he earned himself a place in the Honours list of the College. He subsequently proceeded to the Chicago State University, Illinois where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Management).
On his arrival in the U.S. in 1975 and with the support of an ever-adoring mother, this courageous youth, faced with an unflinching zeal to succeed, took on such menial jobs as dishwashing, night-guard and cab-driving to see himself through the initial difficulties of schooling at the Richard Daley College, Chicago, Illinois.
His brilliance showed in his ability to make the Honours’ list of Richard Daley College. He subsequently transferred to the Chicago State University, Illinois, graduating with honours in 1979 and earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Management). During his first year in Chicago State University, young Bola was given the rare privilege to partly teaching other students of his Faculty remedial tutorial classes. Most of his colleagues and contemporaries at the university attributed their improved grades to his tutorial lectures.
Throughout his undergraduate years, he was on the Dean’s List and was honoured with the Outstanding Student’s Award, the University Scholar’s Award and the Certificate of Merit in Accounting and Finance. He was also awarded the prestigious Sumna cum laude for scoring 3.54 out of possible 4.0 GP. With his successful academic profile, he contested and won his first political election as the President of the Accounting Society of the institution in his final year at the University. Upon graduation with honours and several awards, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu cut his professional teeth at the American-based Arthur Anderson, Deloitte Haskins and Sells (now called Deloitte Haskins and Touche) and GTE Service Corporation – the largest Communication and Utility Company in the (USA).
At Deloitte Haskins and Sells, the young and professional Bola broadened his experience by participating in the auditing and management consultancy services of General Motors, First National Bank of Chicago, Procter and Gamble, International Harvester, GEC and other Fortune 500 firms.
How about his career? On his return to Nigeria and with his international experience in Financial Management, he joined Mobil Producing Nigeria as a Senior Auditor before he retired as the company’s Treasurer.
As pragmatic, charitable, grassroots’ person, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu saw communal service as a veritable tool for social development. He never hesitated to serve his community spearheading several financial contributions and fund-raising for community development programmes in Lagos State. He leads Primrose Group, a political action organization pushing for fundamental changes in the politics of Lagos State.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu opted fully for public service in exchange for his lucrative job at Mobil. His first foray into active politics was as a founding member of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 1992, he was elected an Honourable Senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria to represent Lagos West Senatorial District. At the National Assembly, he distinguished himself as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriation and Currency – a foremost committee of the Senate.
With the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Nigerian Presidential Election and the consequent fresh militarization of politics, Tinubu became a founding member of the famous pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which, for several years, engaged the military for the very soul of Nigeria. Subsequently, Bola Tinubu suffered many arrests and detention, harassment and constant threats to his life, forcing him to flee Nigeria for his personal safety. He, however, did not give up the struggle as he joined NADECO abroad to continue the agitation for a restoration of democratic governance in the country.
In 1998, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu returned to Nigeria to heed a call for all Nigerians to join in the National Reconciliation and Development. A year later, he began his two-term public service as an elected Executive Governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
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