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Raises questions over Tinubu’s certificate
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and the President Bola Tinubu administration against militarising Osun State.
The former Vice President, while speaking at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) National Youth Leadership Summit, said the Osun governorship election is a test of the country’s capacity to conduct elections, ahead of the next general election.
Atiku, who is the 2027 ADC presidential candidate, said the scale and posture of security deployment around the election resembled preparations for war rather than a civil democratic exercise.
He questioned why such overwhelming security capacity was not being deployed against terrorists, kidnappers and bandits killing Nigerians and attacking communities nationwide.
According to him, “Elections are civil engagements, not military operations. Ballot papers are not bullets. Voters are not enemy combatants. Opposition members are not insurgents.
“The police belong to Nigeria. The military belongs to Nigeria. INEC belongs to the Nigerian people. None of them belongs to the APC.
“The world is watching Osun. Nigerians are watching. History is taking notes. Let the people vote. Let every vote count. And let the will of the people prevail.”
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Furthermore, Atiku warned INEC against “mysterious glitches, unexplained delays or manipulation,” stating that there must be timely arrival of materials, unhindered voting, honest counting and transparent transmission of results.
The former Vice President, while admonishing the youths to register and organise themselves for the 2027 polls, said there are serious questions about the certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said, “if you were applying for a job today and submitted a certificate bearing one date, while another version of what purports to be the same certificate carried a different date and different signatures, what do you think your prospective employer would do?
“They would ask you to explain yourself. They might even reject your application. Yet today, serious questions remain about the exact certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission. One version reportedly says June 22, another June 27; questions have also been raised about the signatures and the description of the degree.
“I am not asking you to accept my conclusion. I am asking something much simpler: if a young Nigerian would be required to explain such discrepancies before getting an ordinary job, why should the man seeking Nigeria’s highest job be exempt from the same standard?
“That is part of the Nigeria we must change—a Nigeria where there is one standard for those in power and another for everyone else.”
