Labour Party’s candidate in the February presidential election Mr. Peter Obi, in this interview, said the certificate saga involving President Bola Tinubu is a great concern to the soul of the nation. ONYEKACHI EZE reports
You are accusing Tinubu of forging his certificate, but there are reports showing that other candidates also doctored their certificates. Can you use this opportunity to put the record straight about your own certificate?
My name is Onwubuasi Obi. This is what my parents gave me at birth. I’m not known by my Igbo name because some of you might not know what it means. What it means is that I cannot die. So, I chose not to answer it. I don’t know why my father gave me that name, but that is my name. My name is Peter Onwubuasi Obi. I am a Christian, a Catholic, I went to confirmation, and my confirmation name is Gregory. I love that name; Gregory the Great.
So, you will see me always writing Peter Gregory Obi. I started my primary at Santa Maria, Onitsha, that was before the war. After the war, when we came back, I went to a primary school called Holy Trinity, Onitsha. I was there for a few years when my aunt, who was a headmistress at a place called Umoba Anam Primary School, took me because she wanted to live with me. So, I stayed there, from there I passed Common Entrance to go into Christ the King College. I was in Chris the King College from September 1973 till 1978.
I then went to the University of Nigeria Nsukka, from 1980 to 1984. I read Philosophy; I have a Bachelor of Arts, (BA), Second Class in Philosophy. Thereafter, I went to so many other institutions for training; I will show you my CV before you leave here, and I can clearly say I am an alumnus of some of the schools I went for training, among which are Lagos Business School; Kellogg Graduate School; Said Business School in Oxford University; Cambridge, George Business School, and so many other places I have gone for training.
These are no longer private for me, everything I read, and the programme I attended are well documented. When I give you my CV, whatever I write I will tell you what I did there. It is no longer private to me, it can be verified, and I’m open for verification.
PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, invited you and Kwankwaso, to join him in seeking justice in Bola Tinubu’s forged certificate, are you ready to work with him?
Let me reiterate again, whenever there is an issue of national interest, I’m involved in it, invited or uninvited, because it is about our country.
You just gave us your rich CV, did you submit these certificates to INEC? If not, why? Are you scared of anything?
If you look at what I submitted to INEC, I submitted it to university, including my youth service certificate. Quite frankly, the only thing that is required for election is primary and secondary schools, but I even attached my university certificate. Like I said, I went to University of Nigeria Nsukka. It is not very far, if you go there today the present VC, who is the first VC that is an alumnus of the university, the two DVCs, are all my mates, we came in together and left together.
I can tell you so many people that I came to the university together and left together – (Prof. Charles) Soludo, Godwin Emefiele, I can call all of them. If you went to Nsukka the time I was there, I’m one of the very few students everybody knows, and I can say it without anything. You can go and verify. If you pass through Christ the King College, you will know me. In my final years I was school Deputy Discipline Perfect. I’m sure many people know me, so it’s not a problem.
This issue about the certificate saga, why is it coming after the election? Don’t you think it is high time we started talking about our electoral process?
It is fundamental, that is what is called building the institution. But it has to start by having leaders who are credible, everything starts with the credibility of the leader. The character of a leader, the behaviour, these are critical issues. Like I said this should be shown in our politics; it is an appeal.
Of what use do you think the CSU documents will be for you in your petition in court? Did you plead it in your petition before the court?
I don’t make comments on the issues that are before the court, everybody knows that. However, where we are is beyond the court. What we are talking about today is actually a challenge to the soul of our nation, to our existence. People were asking this question and you have to answer everyone. This is not a political matter. I want you people to understand but it is no longer politics. I have said it over and over again, it is not about whether people went to school or didn’t go to school. We have leaders all over the world who did not have formal education.
The most American President, didn’t go through formal education, and he is highly respected, (Abraham) Lincoln. In the UK it was a similar thing (Wilson) Churchill, he was not a good student in school, and I can go on and on, people who have rich background who didn’t have opportunity of going to school. If you recall during the Bill Clinton problem, one respected former President of America Jimmy Carter, said it is not about party, it is not about where you are or where you belong, but if American president is involved in what I may consider misdemeanor, it is a big problem.
We have a situation where we are now faced with credibility, values and foundation of our nation, and I’m calling for all those that used to speak out, to come up out now. In this country people questioned Jonathan’s Ph.D; somebody said Ph.D. in Zoology is not for presidency. Where are the people now? We want them to speak out, that’s why I said this issue should be attended to. INEC displayed the credentials of all the candidates that participated in elections. Why were people not interested about investigating these credentials before now? We are in courts now, and I said that I don’t get involved with the issues in court.
Let me say it again, this is critical issue, it does not matter when issue came up, it still remains the same thing. Ben Johnson ran a great race and he is a respected athlete. But there was one last race, he already won the gold and went home when they discovered that he has tested (positive to banned drug). They didn’t say, ‘oh you could have done that before Ben Johnson ran the race!’ But they do the test before he went there. So, it does not matter when; there is no particular time to do what is right. This is the time to do what is right and we must do it.
We are a nation. The young girl who said she was the best in WAEC exam, they didn’t detect it before she said it. When she said it, they said they were investigating, and when they found out, what did Nigerians tell that younger girl? It wasn’t detected before she came out. This is an issue that is of great concern to the soul of our nation.
New Telegraph
