Atiku’s Team Criticizes BBC for Comment on Tinubu’s Certificate ‘Forgery’
The Special Assistant on Public Communications to the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has criticized the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its recent ‘fact-check’ regarding President Bola Tinubu’s Chicago State University certificate.
The BBC, in a statement released on Wednesday, claimed there was no evidence to support the allegation that President Tinubu forged his certificate from Chicago State University.
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Shaibu, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, accused the BBC of engaging in a biased report intended to favor Tinubu. He alleged that this report is part of a propaganda program initiated by the Tinubu administration.
He stated, “Sometime last week when the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) issued a final warning to Arise News TV, we pointed out that the Tinubu administration was on the verge of launching a full-blown propaganda and also intimidating ‘uncooperative’ media houses into discrediting and downplaying the CSU scandal. Sadly, we never imagined that it would be the BBC that would become the willing tool.”
“It is unconscionable, appalling, and preposterous that in this current information age, a foreign medium of repute could try to bamboozle Nigerians with a jaundiced report when the details are clear for everyone to see. Thank God, young Nigerians have begun filing complaints against the hack writers who decided to soil their names for a bowl of porridge.”
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“We are not ignorant of the machinations of the BBC and its bias towards the current government. Unfortunately, the BBC is not upholding the same standards as they would uphold in the UK where a Prime Minister was forced out of office for hosting a party during COVID-19. In 2009, columnist Mehdi Hasan wrote in the New Statesman that the BBC was biased ‘towards power and privilege, tradition, and orthodoxy.'”
“It is no wonder that in the last one year, the only news medium that was given exclusive access to interview Tinubu was the BBC. It is sickening that the BBC has decided to surrender its platform to a man who was accused of illegal drug trafficking in the United States.”
“In the so-called fact-check report, the BBC decided to bury in the last paragraphs the fact that Tinubu claimed to have attended Government College, Lagos in 1970 when the school was established in 1974. Why didn’t these so-called fact-checkers reflect it on their headline?”
“What is the essence of the report when it failed to uncover the most critical questions? If this report was aimed at fact-checking, it should have mentioned the year the certificate was obtained by Tinubu from CSU and if the one he submitted to INEC is the same one he received from CSU.”
“Tinubu said at Chatham House that he had received a replacement from CSU when the school said in unambiguous terms that he had not done so. What was the date he applied for his INEC replacement certificate from CSU, and when was it issued to him?
“The investigation was clearly carried out with a predetermined goal, which was to clear Tinubu. But let us ask the BBC if they would employ anyone who has had a case of drug trafficking in the US before and if he had three dates of birth in his official records as well as two different genders as well as attending a secondary school before it was established.”
“On November 28, 2022, Africa Check, one of the highly funded fact-check organizations, claimed that the report by the opposition that Tinubu had lied that he attended Government College, Lagos was false.
“After Atiku Abubakar, through his daring court case, decided to blow open the lid, it turned out that the opposition was right all along. Till date, Africa Check has also not apologized for misleading the public. This is the new reality that we face. Who will fact-check the fact-checkers?”
Shaibu’s criticism of the BBC’s report further adds fuel to the ongoing controversy surrounding President Tinubu’s educational credentials. Atiku’s legal challenge has brought significant attention to this matter, and it remains a prominent issue in the political discourse
The validity of educational qualifications for public officeholders is a topic of importance, as it relates to the transparency and integrity of the democratic process.
The BBC’s position in this matter continues to be a subject of debate, with differing opinions regarding the objectivity of its fact-checking process. This controversy underscores the significance of fact-checking and the role of the media in verifying the claims and qualifications of political figures.
