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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has said the late human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi, inspired him to make inquiries about the certificate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Atiku had filed a suit against President Bola Tinubu at a district court in IIlinois over his academic records at the Chicago State University.
He requested the documents to back his allegation of forgery of against Tinubu.
The allegation of forgery was one of those dismissed by the presidential election petition court in the suit Atiku filed to challenge Tinubu’s victory at the February 25 presidential election.
Despite the court’s ruling, Atiku continued his case at the US court, hoping to get official documents to back his claim and possibly include them in his appeal at the Supreme Court.
He had argued that there were discrepancies in the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC, which should have rendered him ineligible to contest the election.
Speaking at a world press conference on Thursday, Atiku said it should not have taken weeks or months for security agencies to verify certificates of candidates who present themselves for higher office.
“The reputation of Nigeria is at stake. I am a democrat by conviction and citizen of a country that I love.
“I must thank our lawyers, both here and abroad, for helping us to bring clarity to this issue that has dragged for about half a century
“The late human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi, has vindicated us. Now he can truly rest in peace knowing that the journey he started 23 years ago is on course,” he said.