Focus on development, leave certificate matter alone - Tinubu's minister tells Nigerians
The Minister said Nigerians should be more concerned about national development rather than focus on the certificate saga.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar. [Presidency]
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The Minister argued that Tinubu has a long-standing political career, having served as a two-term governor, and, therefore, his academic records should no longer be of concern to Nigerians.
Tuggar made the argument while appearing on a Channels Television programme on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.
This comes amid revelations from a United States court that showed some controversial details in the academic credentials of the President.
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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, had asked the court in the U.S. to compel the Chicago State University (CSU) to release Tinubu's academic records, including his student transcripts and admission documents.
The release of the documents and the deposition at the court by a CSU official has continued to generate mixed reactions from Nigerians, but the Minister said there are more pressing national issues that should be prioritised.
He urged Nigerians to avoid being derailed by trivial matters such as the certificate controversies, adding that issues of economic challenges and rapid population growth should take the front burner.
Tuggar said, “Nobody is wasting time about certificate and qualification for somebody who has been governor of a state, served two terms, he has been on the national stage as a politician.
“President Buhari had to go through the same thing where people were actually questioning whether he went to secondary school or not. Someone who had classmates, someone who was a head boy and all of that.
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“So there is tendency to always fight to distract, to distract people on such frivolous issues as supposed to facing major issues of development. We don’t have time to waste on that.
“And you know, the foreign leaders that we have been engaging and the international organization clearly are disinterested in wasting time on such thing. We pay no mind to that.
“Nigerians should focus on development and every Nigerian because of critical situation we are in at the moment, our population growing at 3% per annum, the economic challenges we are facing, we shouldn’t be wasting time about whether (in) some certificates ‘t’ is missing somewhere or ‘i’ hasn’t been dotted. That shouldn’t be our primary focus at the moment.”
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![President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State. [Punch]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State. [Punch]")