CSU: BBC Vindication Of Tinubu Hatchet Job – Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described the report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), that there was no evidence to show that President Bola Tinubu’s Chicago State University was forged, as a hatchet job.

Atiku in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications Phrank Shaibu, said he was not surprised at the report, noting that he had earlier alerted Nigerians, that Tinubu administration would unleash media propaganda programme on the nation.

He however stated that the outrage the BBC report had generated from Nigerians was enough evidence to show that the media outfit goofed.

The former vice president stated that even though he knew that the threat of clampdown on the Arise Television last week, by National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was an indication that Tinubu administration was on the verge of launching a full blown intimidation of ‘uncooperative’ media houses which would not downplay the Chicago State University (CSU) scandal, he 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,” he added.

Atiku said he was not ignorant of the machinations of the BBC and its bias towards the current government, and regretted that the medium is not upholding the same standards it 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.

“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 the CSU and if the one he submitted to INEC is the same one he received from CSU,” Atiku wondered.

According to him, the investigation was carried out with a predetermined goal clear Tinubu, and demanded from the BBC if it would employ someone who had three dates of birth in his official records, two different genders as well as attending a secondary school before it was established.

He advised the BBC and other fact-checkers to be more circumspect, adding that their job was too sensitive to entertain errors.

Atiku recalled that Africa Check, had on November 28, 2022, claimed that the report by the opposition that Tinubu had lied that he attended Government College, Lagos was false, but noting that the deposition of the CSU registrar has vindicated the opposition.

“Till date, Africa Check has also not apologised for misleading the public. This is the new reality that we face. Who will fact-check the fact-checkers?” he asked.