FCT, Abuja – A prominent opposition leader in Nigeria, Peter Obi, has made a cryptic reference to President Bola Tinubu’s purported drug and identity scandals.
Obi spoke on Tuesday night, April 1, in a video interview with Arise News, monitored by Legit.ng. The interview is currently trending on X (formerly Twitter).
While expressing his dissatisfaction with the state of democracy in Nigeria, the former Anambra state governor explained that people aspiring for political offices must have verifiable certificates.
He said:
“In a democracy, it is clear that there are guidelines set for people vying for an election. Like in Nigerian case, you have to talk about people must be qualified: they must have primary school, secondary school, university, and must attain certain age. That is not happening today. People with unverified forged certificates and criminal records all over the place, and they are in charge.”
The interview can be watched below:
Legit.ng recalls that Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a drug trafficking scandal that saw him forfeit $460,000 to the United States (US) government in 1993 re-emerged in 2022 shortly after he declared interest to contest the presidency. US government statements confirm that Tinubu forfeited $460,000 in 1993 over links to a drug trafficking syndicate, but he was not indicted or convicted.
Similarly, Tinubu’s alleged Chicago State University (CSU) certificate forgery scandal made the rounds as opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar, approached the court to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s academic record.
CSU registrar Caleb Westberg in a hearing confirmed that Tinubu attended the institution between 1977 and 1979. However, Westberg said the school could not authenticate or divorce the certificate Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Legit.ng reports that Tinubu did not need a university degree to be president. Under Nigerian law, the minimum required educational qualification for a presidential candidate is a school leaving certificate, the equivalent of a high school diploma.
‘Tinubu doing well’ – Govt critic Obi speaks
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Obi reflected on President Tinubu’s two years in office so far.
On whether the Tinubu administration has improved Nigeria, Obi refused to applaud the current government.
The Labour Party (LP) chieftain also criticised the state of democracy in Nigeria.
