Bola Tinubu.
Newsone reports that a Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Farooq Kperogi, has said that both Bola Tinubu, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President, are not youthful.
This online news platform understands that Kperogi made this comment in a social media post after Oyegun’s committee submitted its screening report to the APC’s National Working Committee on Friday, June 3, 2022.
Newsone Nigeria had reported earlier that after the submission, Oyegun had hinted that youthful aspirants made the list of cleared APC Presidential aspirants.
Reacting to Oyegun’s statement on the disqualification of 10 APC Presidential Aspirants in a post titled, ‘Tinubu and Osinbajo disqualified from APC Primaries?’ on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, Kperogi wrote: “John Oyegun, who chaired APC’s screening committee, told newsmen a while ago that only 13 “youthful aspirants” were cleared to run for the party’s primaries.
“I can bet my bottom dollar that Bola Tinubu has been disqualified. 70 years isn’t, by any system of measurement, “youthful.”
“At 65, which is just five years younger than Tinubu, Yemi Osinbajo isn’t “youthful,” either.
“The implosion of APC has just officially started!”
Though it is still unclear if Tinubu has been disqualified but Newsone recalls that a member of the All Progressives Congress in Kano State, Sagir Mai Iyali, had earlier written a petition against Tinubu, seeking his disqualification by the Oyegun-led committee.
In a letter dated May 17, 2022, the APC member from Kano State, northern Nigeria, demanded the disqualification of the former governor’s “questionable educational qualifications”.
The APC member had also claimed that Tinubu allegedly submitted false documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 1998.
Iyali said although Tinubu is above the required age to contest the office of president, his age is not known, adding that obscurity surrounding the presidential hopeful could jeopardise the party’s chances at the polls.
It read in part, “We understand that Bola Tinubu who has since procured his expression of interest and nomination forms and has submitted the same to the party has certain issues that clearly amount to a similar disqualification scenario.
“From the information contained in prior submissions to INEC, particularly in 1999, Mr. Tinubu presented a false claim, on oath, of his attendance at the University of Chicago from 1972-1976.
“It is clear now that these claims are false. Not only was this filed in the INEC form with a declaration on oath on December 20 1999, it was also contained in an affidavit of loss sworn to before the High Court of Lagos, Ikeja Registry, December 29, 1998.”
The petition asked Tinubu to show proof he attended the University of Chicago or he must stand disqualified as the opposition is in possession of his questionable credentials.
“Over the years, the identity of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been shrouded in secrecy. In fact, no one can claim to know the identity of the man. Repeated efforts and demands by the general populace and the media to unravel the identity of Asiwaju Tinubu have all proved abortive and unsuccessful,” he wrote.
In his response, at 9.30 pm on Monday, May 30, 2022, Tinubu’s Media Aide, Tunde Ramon, said a statement would be issued soon. But he had yet to issue the statement in this regard.