President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s former spokesman in the southeast, Dr Josef Onoh has accused the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, of being a Cameroonian citizen with ‘Siddiq’ as his first name.
Onoh’s allegation followed a recent disclosure of the discrepancy in Abubakar’s West Africa School Certificate which bears Siddiq as his first name instead of Atiku as he is generally known.
President Tinubu’s media aide, Tunde Rahman had questioned Atiku’s certificate discrepancy after Atiku dragged his principal to the Chicago State University for authentication of the President’s credential, but Atiku in his reply defended that he swore to an affidavit that Siddiq Abubakar is the same person as Atiku Abubakar.
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Onoh however in joining the altercation said that the real Siddiq Abubakar that Atiku claimed he changed his name is a Cameroonian and not Nigerian adding that Atiku had to use the alleged forged certificate and deposed to an alleged affidavit in other to gain admission in Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, as a Nigerian.
Onoh further alleged that Atiku used the same to climb into the Nigerian civil service and to become the Vice President of Nigeria because in the period in question, digital technology wasn’t available and Atiku was able to continue benefiting from the alleged forgery.
“Even the purported copy of the alleged affidavit he claimed he deposed to in respect to his change of name in 1973 bears no official stamp or seal. Most documents executed during in the 70’s mostly had a postal stamp on them. So only Siddiq alias Atiku can explain where he obtained the affidavit he’s parading.
“Saddiq Abubakar and Atiku Abubakar are not the same person. Atiku needs to realise that Nigeria isn’t a play station mortal combat computer game where he, Atiku, thinks he’s the character ‘Shang Tsung that can transform into you or one of the two partners’
“I’ve always told Nigerians that Atiku’s attacks on President Tinubu were and still are always ad hominem. When he says something about Tinubu, he’s actually revealing something about himself and it isn’t pretty. Today it’s clear he has revealed more information surrounding his mysterious personality.
“During the campaign, I made it clear that Atiku was a Cameroonian and not a Nigerian and he has never come out to refute it till date. I’m shocked at the desperation a Cameroonian flesh and blood is fighting a Nigerian to become our president through a back door when we Nigerians already voted him out in the polls.”
According to Onoh, Chapter VI, Part I, Section 131 of the constitution states that a person may be qualified for the election of the office of the president if: They are a citizen of Nigeria by birth; They have attained the age of 35 years (40 before 2018);
“It’s important to note that they laid emphasis on being Nigeria by birth. Atiku’s Father and grandfather are not Nigerians but Cameroonians. Ganye, which incorporates Atiku’s birthplace of Jada was the headquarters of British Cameroons, but following the plebiscite, joined Nigeria.
“I stand to be corrected about the historical origin of Atiku’s Jada, it is, however, instructive to note that when Mr Abubakar was on November 25, 1946 born to a Fulani trader and farmer Garba Abubakar, Jada village and other parts of Chamba land in the then Northern Cameroon were still known as British Cameroon. So Atiku isn’t Nigerian by birth because he was already born in 1946 before the plebiscite was conducted in 1961 to balkanize Nigeria and Cameroon where Jada was part of northern Cameroon.”
Onoh said the French system of assimilation had compelled the people of Jada, including Abubakar’s father and grandfather to be full Cameroonians in flesh and blood.
“So Saddiq Abubakar is a Cameroonian whose alleged forged WAEC certificate was used by Atiku to gain admission in Nigeria and also profit and plunder our commonwealth. His explanation for changing his name doesn’t make sense.
“The Same Atiku claimed that at the age of eight, he was enrolled in the Jada Primary School Adamawa, but as who, Siddiq or Atiku? After completing his primary school education in 1960, he was admitted into Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in the same year, alongside 59 other students, it will help Nigerians if one person alive out of the claimed 59 student can come out and affirm he or she were classmates with Siddiq alias Atiku.
“He graduated from secondary school in 1965 after he made grade three in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, and I ask if it was Siddiq the Cameroonian, or an imposter that now goes by another name.
“He claimed that after secondary school, Siddiq alias Atiku studied a short while at the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna, so since he didn’t change his name by then, it’s important to go through police admission records and verify if it was Siddiq or Atiku that enrolled for the short course, let’s unravel the mystery.”
“He stated in his records that he left the College when he was unable to present an O-Level Mathematics result, and worked briefly as a Tax Officer in the Regional Ministry of Finance, from where he gained admission to the School of Hygiene in Kano in 1966.
“One vital question unanswered is this: Atiku claimed that in the year 1965, he changed his name from Siddiq Abubakar; Mr Abubakar declared at the Chief Magistrate’s Court Registry in Lagos on August 18, 1973.
“So as a staff of the then Regional Ministry of Finance Atiku would have been required by law to have notified the ministry of such change as he was receiving salary as Siddiq Abubakar and not Atiku Abubakar. So what official identity was he parading from 1965?
“He claimed he changed his name and what official document does he have for such change in 1965
that he had to wait till 8years later in 1973 to comply with the legal requirements for such change. He graduated with a Diploma in 1967, having served as Interim Student Union President at the school. In 1967 he enrolled for a Law Diploma at the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of Administration, on a scholarship from the regional government. After graduation in 1969, during the Nigerian Civil War, he was employed by the Nigeria Customs Service and every Nigerian knows his sad antecedent and record of service in the customs.
“Only someone who’s attempting to hide a criminal past or an impostor will go to such lengths to change his name when he had already started life and a successful career with such a name. I ask.. “what is Atiku hiding?
“It’s safe to conclude that Former president Obasanjo knows a lot about Siddiq alias Atiku Abubakar that Nigerians might never know.
In 2021, Abubakar claimed he completed and passed his Master’s degree in International Relations at Anglia Ruskin University I will soon request for his transcript to ascertain the true identity of who actually enrolled in the university and a copy of the alleged certificate from Anglia Ruskin university England. I hope he won’t attempt to block the release of his academic records.
“Atiku’s only contribution to our current democracy is to promote false information and propaganda against our president. To create public sympathy amongst the gullible ahead of his planned 2027 presidential campaign which he will fail again. He’s free to contest in Cameroon,” Onoh said.
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