Former Vice President of Nigeria and and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has said that late Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), can now rest in peace as the fight that he started over 23 years ago has finally come to fruition.
In a press conference that Atiku held after the Chicago State University said it did not issue the certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Atiku paid homage to the late Fawehinmi, who had, in 1999, sued Tinubu for lying under oath that he attended Government College Ibadan and Chicago State University.
The former PDP presidential candidate then honoured Fawehinmi saying, “Now he can truly rest in peace in the assurance that what he started about 23 years ago has come to fruition. Gani’s vindication today gives credence to the saying that no matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.”
He then appreciated the lawyers who were involved in the case saying, “I should thank the lawyers, both in Nigeria and in the United States who have assisted us in bringing clarity and definitive answers to these issues that appear to have defied our institutions for nearly quarter of a century.”
Atiku also gave credit to David Hundeyin and other journalists for “stepping in when other arms of government failed” and becoming a source of inspiration to many young Nigerians.
He then appreciated Nigerians and citizenship journalists who continued to speak on the issue on social media in a bid to keep leaders accountable. He said that their actions gave him the hope “that we have worthy partners in the struggle to claim the country we call our own.”
Atiku then said that the controversy surrounding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged forgery of his certificate from Chicago State University has put the reputation of Nigeria at stake.
“It should not take months or decades for the institutions concerned to be able to do their and establish the credibility of any certificates presented by candidates for public office.
“The reputation of our country is at stake. That affects everyone, Nigerians everywhere, wherever they may be in the world,” he said.
He then called on the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, NNPP’s Kwankwaso, every other political and religious leader and all who love the country to “join me in this campaign to ensuring propriety, accountability and the basic principles of justice, morality, and uprightness in our country and in our government. This is a task for each and every one of us.”
“This quest is not for or about Atiku Abubakar, but it is a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, justice and accountability in our public affairs,” he said.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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