Certificate Fraud: Lawyer predicts Atiku, Tinubu's fate at Supreme Court

Titilope Anifowoshe, a barrister in the legal parlance, has commented on the legal battle between Atiku Abubakar, the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election and President Bola Tinubu.

Atiku is challenging the victory of President Tinubu in the poll and has suffered defeat at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) for lack of evidence but has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court.

To strengthen his defence at the apex court, the former vice president has approached a district court in the United States to compel President Tinubu's Alma Mata, the Chicago State University, to provide him with the academic records of the Nigerian president.

Following his access to Tinubu's academic records, Atiku had hoped that he would defeat President Tinubu at the Supreme Court and a press conference on Thursday, he publicly alleged that the president forged his certificate.

The legal icon said:

''Regarding Atiku Abubakar's fate.

''Atiku requested these crucial items through his legal representatives.

''A prime example of a CSU diploma from the year 1979

''A comparison between Tinubu's 1979 diploma and a CSU diploma that "contains the same font, seal, signatures, and wording" as Tinubu's June 1979 graduation

''CSU documents were certified and produced by Jamar Orr, an associate general counsel at CSU, in 1979.

''It is my contention that the issue that Alh. Atiku can tie to his forgery allegation from the Registrar's deposition the difference in the certificate that Bola Tinubu submitted to INEC, but I question whether the Registrar's deposition at CSU can be a strong basis for Atiku Abubakar's forgery allegation given that Registrar deposed to Tinubu's studentship with a valid transcript, an admission letter addressed to Bola Tinubu (a male), his graduation, his academic distinctions, and the fact that CSU handles replacement certificates for lost documents through third party.