The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, says the name on his WAEC certificate has a link to Islam.

Atiku, a former Vice President, stated that both Siddiq and Atiku are names that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave to his friend, Caliph Abubakar, noting that the names have a historical link to one person in Islamic theology.

There have been several reactions to the WAEC certificate of Atiku which has the name “Siddiq Abubakar” as against his other credentials.

This followed the debates on the certificate of President Bola Tinubu which was recently released by the Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States to the PDP presidential flag bearer.

Some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in defence of Tinubu’s credentials, accused the former Vice President of forging his certificate.

However, Atiku, while speaking on the development via a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, disclosed that he sat for the WAEC examination in 1968.

Ibe stated: “To start with, Atiku Abubakar wrote his WAEC examination in 1968 with the name Siddiq Abubakar.

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“Every elementary student of Islamic civilization will not find it hard to decipher that both Siddiq and Atiku are names that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave to his bosom friend, Caliph Abubakar. Therefore, Siddiq and Atiku are names that have a historical link to one person in Islamic theology.

“Atiku Abubakar, knowing full well the importance of proper documentation, went ahead in 1973, more than 50 years ago to depose to an affidavit that he would wish to be known officially as Atiku Abubakar and still keeps the original copy of that affidavit up to this day.

“The meticulousness that has been displayed by Atiku in this instance shows an example of an upright man.

“However, while it has only taken Atiku less than 24 hours to come out with full disclosure on his public records, President Tinubu has lived behind the veil for more than half of a century.

“Since 1970 when President Tinubu came under public record to have falsified his academic credentials by claiming to have graduated from a school that was nonexistent, the narrative of his public profile continues to get dirty and messier by the turn of every decade.

“The latest in the rigmarole of President Tinubu’s life of forgeries and falsification of documents is the recent declaration by the Chicago State University that it is not the issuer of the certificate that Nigeria’s president presented to INEC in the run up to the 2023 presidential election – an act that constitutionally disqualifies the offender from the election.”

He, however, called on President Tinubu to “follow the example of Atiku Abubakar by coming before Nigerians and the world to explain how he got about his name, his educational background, the history of his early years, the true owner of the Southwest College transcript with which he got admission to the CSU, why he refused to go and retake his pre-qualifying examination for the admission and, more importantly, how he came about the discredited and forged certificate of the Chicago State University that he submitted to INEC.”

“If President Tinubu refuses to take the lead set by Atiku, Nigerians and the world will forever judge him through a popular Yoruba proverb translation that says: ‘the upright walk on the straight path, only the crooked beat corners’,” Ibe added.

The Star