Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched an attack on PREMIUM TIMES, following the online medium’s request for his academic records and subsequent report on his failure to release them.
According to the online medium, Atiku, who spoke through his media aide, Paul Ibe, reacted in a statement only few hours after the story was published on Saturday.
The online medium added that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election had ignored its request for over two months.
PREMIUM TIMES also reports that it first made the request in a letter dated October 3, and when Atiku did not respond after seven weeks, sent a reminder to him on November 13.
The online medium also stated that Atiku’s media adviser, Ibe, assured of a prompt response, making it to wait further for almost four weeks before publishing its Saturday’s report.
For the period after it sent the reminder, Ibe and his principal made no comment on the issue until Saturday when it stated that they baselessly accused PREMIUM TIMES of a witch-hunt.
The online medium also reported on Saturday, Atiku’s refusal to release his records as requested.
It further stated that the report contrasted Atiku’s attitude with his dogged pursuit of the academic records of President Bola Tinubu to as far as the United States a few months ago.
Atiku, claiming to be driven by his commitment to public probity and accountability, sent lawyers to the US to have a court to compel the Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic records.
It said, “ Our report also drew parallels between Atiku’s attitude and former US President Donald Trump’s prevarication, dodging the requests by UK Guardian newspaper for his birth records as he had earlier demanded of his predecessor, then President Barack Obama.”
Reacting to PREMIUM TIMES report on Saturday, Atiku said the newspaper had no right to conduct an enquiry into his records which he said was neither controversial nor shrouded in secrecy.
It quoted Atiku of saying that instead of responding to why he had failed to provide the documents, accused the newspaper of mischief and unprofessionalism.
Atiku also reportedly claimed that the story was “fictional”.
Ibe, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday, said., “Without adherence to any known ethics of journalism, the Premium Times newspaper went into its mill to publish a story that is neither controversial nor shrouded in a cover-up.”
Atiku further claimed that all the documents requested were in the public domain and that the online medium should instead request them from the electoral commission, INEC, and the institutions where he claimed to have graduated from.
Ibe said, “Atiku is an alumnus of both Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom. Premium Times did not place an order for Atiku’s academic records with these reputable institutions, nor did Atiku stop the school or go to court to ask any of these schools not to release his records. Premium Times is also at liberty to write to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) demanding for a copy of the former Vice President’s certificate and transcript.”
Against expectation that he would want to prove that the PREMIUM TIMES’ request was baseless, the online medium said Atiku did not accompany his statement with the requested documents on Saturday.
PREMIUM TIMES also reported that Atiku accused it of protecting the interest of the Tinubu-led administration.
He said: “The ethics of journalism seeks to establish the truth when there is a dispute about it or when there is a deliberate cover-up that inhibits public interest.
“What the Premium Times has done in this case keeps faith in neither of these two precepts. The story in reference by Premium Times is nothing other than witch-hunt – and a callous one at that.
“Were the publishers of the Premium Times stable interested in the truth, it would have been more honourable for them to start their busybody foray into politicians’ academic records by interrogating the discoveries from the Chicago State University. They certainly refrained from that engagement for the obvious reason that a parent owner of the newspaper occupies a critical seat in the current government.
“And, then, we ask the question: What manner of a newspaper sets out to protect the interest of a government but is very willing to embark on a wild goose chase on a private citizen?”
But the PREMIUM TIMES has challenged Atiku to name its “parent owner” he claimed to be serving in the President Tinubu administration.
Reacting to the claims of Atiku on Saturday , the Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, said, “Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should be bold enough to name the person he claimed to be a parent owner of our newspaper that occupies a critical seat in the current government. We dare him to name the person.
“It is unfortunate that at his level, he can make an allegation of this nature publicly without any proof whatsoever. Much more is expected from people aspiring to lead a country like Nigeria.”
It is instructive to note that Atiku sent his lawyers to the US to legally force Chicago State University (CSU) to release the academic records of President Tinubu, whose election he disputed but lost finally at the Supreme Court
