>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has criticised the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, over the discrepancy in the name on the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku, while responding to allegations of forgery levelled against him by some All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters, had admitted using Sadiq Abubakar to sit for his WAEC examination.
The former vice president, who spoke through a PDP chieftain and one of his campaign spokespersons, Dele Momodu, on Tuesday, said: “Yes I used Sadiq Abubakar to sit for my WAEC and after passing my exams I went to swear an affidavit to say I am the same person as ATIKU Abubakar. I went to ABU as Atiku Abuakar and passed my Exams as Atiku Abubakar. Interviewed as Atiku Abubakar by the Federal Civil Service Commission and hired into the Customs Service as Atiku Abubakar. So where is forgery there?”
Reacting to Atiku’s explanation, Ajayi, in a post on his X account, said the PDP candidate “went to America to look for President Tinubu’s certificate and to also find out whether he went to school as a female or male, why he himself is not even sure of his own name in Nigeria.”
“The name on the WASC certificate he submitted to INEC reads Sadiq Abubakar. We have never known him as Sadiq even as a middle name.
“He has already started explaining himself.
“The PDP candidate said he swore to an affidavit to declare that he Atiku Abubakar is the same person who sat for WASC as Sadiq.
“The irony here is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar wants us to accept his explanation as the true and correct situation of his case while President Tinubu should not enjoy same privilege of presenting his own case before Nigerians.
“This life!” Ajayi wrote.