A youth leader of the All Progressives Congress, Hyde Kalu has asked the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar to drop his case pursuing the validity of President Bola Tinubu’s educational qualifications in the United States.
The APC youth leader in Abia State said that the call becomes necessary, “because the issue is already generating negative attention to Nigeria across the globe, and Atiku should save the country this embarrassment.”
Kalu, in a press statement sent to the media on Monday, said that “it is quite unfortunate that the pride of Nigeria has been dragged to a point of ridicule in the comity of nations.”
He thus pleads with Atiku to discontinue the litigation in the United States and allow the judiciary in Nigeria to decide the post election dispute arising from the 2023 presidential election.
He said, “Atiku is a statesman, and it is not in contention that he has the love of Nigeria at heart.
“I am sure that no Nigerian is happy with the way our country has been subjected to ridicule over the court ruling in the United States
“For the love of this country and to spare Nigerians the shame of how this process may end, it is important that we plead with Atiku to drop that case and not allow us wash our dirty linens in the public.
“We are all patriots, and I believe that we can have a decent way of handling this matter and save Nigerians the shame of this impending embarrassment.
“The election has come and gone, and a president has emerged. We are all humans, and that is why I am pleading with Atiku to discontinue the case in America for the sake of the country and in consideration of the friendship between him and President Tinubu,” Kalu said.
It will be recalled that Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of a Chicago Magistrate Court had asked the Chicago State University to testify under oath in a discovery of President Tinubu’s academic records at the university, and the president caused an emergency appeal to the ruling citing “severe and irreparable damage” to him if the order of the magistrate court was granted.
Atiku is contesting the declaration of President Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election and one of the grounds of his appeal is that the president forged the document of his academic record that was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).