By Austin Ogwuda
Beyond partisanship and whatever the final decision the Supreme Court of Nigeria will arrive at, former Minister of Aviation Chief Osita Chidoka said the best thing to do now is for President Bola Tinubu to resign honorably if Nigeria can still be reckoned with any longer among the international community.
He noted that what is bothering him is how Nigeria can save its image abroad with the tainted intergrity of parading a President with alleged scandal over forgery of certificate hanging on his neck irrespective of legalism involved in the whole drama.
Chidoka spoke when he appeared on Arise Television programme, tagged ‘Prime Time’ on Wednesday night, anchored by a veteran journalist, Charles Aniagolu.
According to him, “the issue no matter the defence you are putting out on his behalf by anyone, is that the Chicago State University has said on Oath that they didn’t issue it the certificate he submitted to INEC.
He (Tinubu) was our student, yes but this certificate is a forgery. This was very embarrassing, damaging. The legal question is Tinubu allegedly submitted a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to validate his claim to have attended and graduated from Chicago State University and the answer according to the University Registrar is that they didn’t issue it.
“Section 137 1(g) states that no person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if one presented a forged certificate to INEC.
“He (Tinubu) sworn to an Oath. He then does not meet the qualification for the office of the President of Nigeria.
“We (People’s Democratic Party PDP) are going to submit it to the Supreme Court. But I think this is beyond legalism. I don’t think Nigeria as a country should be debating whether the Supreme Court will accept the document. We are internationally embarrassed; we (Nigeria) are going to be the subject of international conversation. Our President will be the subject of a man who is going to make difficult decisions in Nigeria.
“The population of Nigeria is predominantly young, fuel subsidy is gone, dollar is at one thousand naira; production has fallen, our Letters of Credit are no longer accepted by international banks. We have challenges with power in Nigeria.
“For you to take these decisions you need a national consensus, you need legitimacy, you need to go to West African region to spread the gospel of democracy.You can’t go with a tainted mandate, that is the point.
“So, I don’t think the point is the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court will be doing itself and the country a great disservice if it cannot take judicial notice of the legal Deposition in Chicago University. I think the President should just resign, there should be some honour in this country”, he added.
