As Nigerians are caught up in the certificate crisis involving President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa faction claims that the party’s presidential candidate has different names on his NYSC and university credentials.
Tinubu is accused by Atiku of obtaining a certificate other than the one he earned from Chicago State University, which he denies, and a BBC fact checker agrees with the president.
On the other hand, Atiku is accused of using the name Siddque on his secondary school certificate rather than Atiku. He submitted an affidavit from almost 30 years ago to prove his name change.
The claim was made by Abayomi Arabambi, National Publicity Secretary of the Lamidi Apapa-led faction, during an interview on AIT on Thursday.
Arabambi stated that he was among those who screened Obi prior to the party’s presidential primary.
The name on Obi’s academic degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), according to Arabambi, contradicts the name on his National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, certificate.
Arabambi said: “I was part of the people who did the screening for him. In the form EC9 we gave him, he wrote that he attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and that he finished his youth service.
“But unfortunately, in the final submission of the form, he only submitted his school certificate.
“So something is fishy, and I want to say the name the school sent for mobilisation was not what was written on his NYSC certificate, and he knows that.
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“For us, we don’t know the true identity of Peter Obi even in the Labour Party because everything was shrouded in secrecy at that time in Asaba.
“You know we were rushing because we had just a day to do our presidential primary, and that was why he was able to get away with it.
“But we have it on record that Obi’s name on his NYSC certificate and the one on his University of Nigeria, Nsukka, certificate are different,” he said.