By Seyi Babalola
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, had called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop embarrassing Nigerians with his desperate efforts to frustrate the release of his academic credentials from the Chicago State University (CSU).
He wondered what Tinubu had got to hide which prompted him to hurriedly appeal the judgment of a US Magistrate Court that ordered CSU to release his academic records.
Frank expressed these views in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.
Tinubu, according to a report by Peoples Gazette, had pleaded before a United States judge to save him from suffering “severe and irreparable damage” by placing an emergency hold on a recent Court order for his university records to be released.
The President, through his lawyer, claimed that the damage he would suffer would be impossible to mitigate if the order directing the release of his academic records to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is not delayed for possible vacation.
According to the report, “Severe and irreparable harm will be done to Bola Tinubu if the records are released,” Tinubu’s lawyer had argued at an emergency appeal before Judge Nancy Maldonado of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.
“If the records are released, harm will be done and cannot be taken back to the bottle”, Tinubu’s lawyer added.
But Frank challenged Tinubu to come out clean.
The political activist said, “If you know you have clean academic records why are you fighting to stop their being released? What ‘severe and irreparable harm’ will you suffer if the records are released?”
According to him, due to Tinubu’s desperate acts in seeking to conceal his academic records and other legal issues surrounding his persona, most world leaders are now avoiding him and this has hampered his administration’s much-publicized investments drive abroad.
He said, “For instance, his much trumpeted proposed meeting with American President Joe Biden during the United Nations General Assembly in New York was silently cancelled with no explanations from either Tinubu or Biden.
“However, we have it on good authority that Biden was warned by the US intelligence community to avoid such a meeting. Besides, Tinubu claimed to have gotten Untied Arab Emirates (Dubai) authorities to lift visa restrictions on Nigerians but this has since been proven to be a lie.”
Frank called on Nigerians to own the fight to ensure that the President has authentic academic records and not to leave the efforts to an individual due to potential political and diplomatic damage it can do to Nigeria if glossed over.
He said, “This fight should not be for Atiku Abubakar alone. Nigerians must rise up and demand to know the academic records of their President.
Tinubu’s desperate attempt to buy time with his recent appeal is a huge embarrassment to Nigerians both at home and in diaspora. Why does the court ordered release of Tinubu’s academic records appear like a matter of life and death to the President?
“Tinubu, please stop embarrassing Nigerians through this do or die attempt to stop your academic records from being released. Nigerians are eager to know who their President really is.
“The more you fight to conceal your academic records, the more you damage the image of the country and its ability to attract investors who want to do business with genuine and trustworthy partners and not those believed to have skeletons in their cupboards.
“Are Nigerians not entitled to know the authentic academic qualifications of their President?”
Frank called on the United States’ Government and its institutions to transparently adjudicate on this matter in the interest of Nigeria and not that of one man.
“We demand the Chicago court to urgently hear this appeal and make its findings known without compromising the integrity of the American Court system”, he emphasized.
