BREAKING: Tinubu didn’t forge his CSU certificate, we stand by our report — BBC insists

BBC, a British media platform, says it stands resolutely on its earlier report that claimed President Bola Tinubu did not forge his Chicago State University certificate.

On Wednesday, a report by the British paper on President Bola Tinubu’s certificate scandal, outrightly declared that there is no evidence pointing to the fact that he forged his CSU diploma.

The BBC report, titled ‘Bola Tinubu diploma: No evidence Nigeria’s president forged college record’, currently, has stirred serious reactions across the country and beyond.

Though, concerned political stakeholders had accused the paper of concocting the misleading report as a way of whitewashing the image of the Nigerian leader who has been indicted for forgery.

However, following the negative reactions that trailed the report, BBC in response to an inquiry seeking clarifications over their position on the matter, which was obtained by NewsBand Newspaper, vehemently insisted that it stand firmly on its report that Tinubu did not forge his CSU certificate.

According to the paper, it drew conclusion on the certificate scandal after contacting the Chicago state university which confirmed that Tinubu graduated from the institution in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree.

It further added that the report was informative, responsible and filled with known facts.

Part of the response by BBC reads, “Dear Audience Member

“Thank you for taking time to write to us.

“We received a number of similar complaint and we regret that you are unhappy with our findings on this matter. We have looked into this and the BBC has not seen any evidence that the certificate was forged.

“We contacted the Chicago state university and they confirmed that Bola Tinubu graduated from the university in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree. We believe our text piece has been informative and responsible, reporting known facts. We thereby stand by our journalism”.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party—PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has threatened to petition the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation—BBC, over the misleading report.

Phrank Shaibu, the special assistant on public communications to Mr Atiku, during an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, accused the British media of being bias and doing the bidding of the president.

He said, “When they said a report by the BBC, I laughed at the level of pedestrianism. The three young people who wrote that report are not even in the employment of the BBC. They are just like a fact-checking team.

“Let me take one of the authors of that report, Olaronke Alo. As of 2019, he was a reporter and presenter at TVC owned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We don’t need the services of a clairvoyant to know how the stories were put together. The first paragraph will tell you they got the true certified copy of the position from Frank Shaibu. One of the reporters asked me for it and I sent it to her.

“The same report claims that when they tried to reach the Atiku media team, we did not respond. This we have taken up with the top management, and we have written a petition to the BBC because they allowed their platform to be used for a hatchet job like this. Its preposterous and unacceptable.

“The highest headquarters were shocked too. And I told them the report, Jaundice.

“You claim in the report that I gave you a document, and you are aware that I speak for the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, and acknowledged the fact that I gave you the documents.

“But when it was time to get back to us, to give our side of the story, you claim in the report that you didn’t have access to us.

“And when we queried, did you call me, did you send an email, did you call Paul Ibe, who is the head of the Atiku Media office? The answer was no.