Retract Allegations Over Tinubu’s School In 7 Days Or Face Prosecution, APC Chieftain Threatens Ex-Don

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Oluremi Omowaiye, has given a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse seven days to retract his recent false allegations against President Bola Tinubu or face serious legal prosecution.

Pearse, a former Chicago State University lecturer during an interview on News Central said  Tinubu never attended the institution.

But Omowaiye, in a statement reacting to Pearse’s recent television interview, declared that he must be tried in court to serve as a deterrent to others spreading falsehoods against the nation’s highest office holder.

Speaking not in his capacity as a government appointee, but as a “citizen, stakeholder, and taxpayer,” the Executive Director (Project Implementations) at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) described Pearse’s remarks as “unbearable” and an attempt to exploit the gullibility of Nigerian youths to blackmail the president.

“This issue is becoming unbearable. How could someone like Adetokunbo Pearse call the President unprintable names?

“If Adetokunbo is not tried and probably jailed, people will not stop misbehaving. Nigeria is not a banana republic; this is a country with laws.

“Apart from legal protection, we have also written a petition that will be submitted to the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of Department of State Services should Adetokunbo not retract his words,” he stated.

Omowaiye revealed that the viral spread of the interview had personal repercussions, noting that his teenage daughter contacted him after seeing the claims online to ask whether it was true that Nigeria’s President did not attend university and forged his certificate.

“He has tainted the name of the President, we are giving him seven days to apologize in at least seven national newspapers and other major broadcast outfits. Failure to apologize within seven days, he will be taken to court to serve as a deterrent for others,”the APC chieftain said.

Omowaiye emphasised that the controversy surrounding President Tinubu’s academic credentials has already been exhaustively litigated and settled by the highest courts in both Nigeria and the United States.

He pointed out that during the legal proceedings initiated by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the U.S., Chicago State University’s registrar, Caleb Westberg, testified under oath in October 2023 and presented official documentation confirming that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended the institution from August 1977 to June 1979, graduating on June 22, 1979, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting.

Omowaiye also said the Supreme Court of Nigeria subsequently upheld these facts while a cross-examination of public academic records directly contradicted Pearse’s claim during his recent appearance on News Central TV that he served as the “director of the programme” at CSU.

President Tinubu graduated from CSU in June 1979, whereas Pearse stated he lectured at the institution between 1985 and 1990 serving as the Director of the programme Tinubu studied —arriving six years after Tinubu had already left.

“Dr Pearse’s academic qualifications—including a Bachelor’s degree in English from Bayero University, Kano, a Master’s from the University of Sheffield, and a PhD in Contemporary African Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison—place his expertise strictly within English and the Humanities, rather than the College of Business Administration where Tinubu studied Accounting,” he said

Dismissing Pearse as a “disgruntled” political actor attempting to use unsubstantiated claims to override verified institutional records, Omowaiye challenged opposition figures to elevate the quality of political discourse ahead of future elections.

“This is not about political party. If Adetokunbo and his cohorts wants to campaign, it must be an evidence-based campaign, not fake Bangladesh Statistics,”he added.