Atiku Abubakar denies certificate forgery allegations, says he used Sadiq Abubakar for WAEC

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, has denied allegations that he forged his secondary school certificate with the name “Sadiq Abubakar” in his O’level certificate.

Atiku, who was the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, said he used the name “Sadiq Abubakar” to sit for his West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examination in 1961 and later swore an affidavit to change his name to “Atiku Abubakar”.

He made this clarification through one of his media aides, Dele Momodu, who posted Atiku’s response on his social media platform, X, on Tuesday, October 10.

Momodu said he forwarded the allegations of forgery against Atiku to him after receiving them from some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who questioned the discrepancy in Atiku’s WAEC certificate and his other credentials.

Momodu quoted Atiku as saying, “Yes, I used Sadiq Abubakar to sit for my WAEC, and after passing my exams, I went to swear an affidavit to say I am the same person as ATIKU Abubakar. I went to ABU as Atiku Abubakar and passed my exams as Atiku Abubakar. Interviewed as Atiku Abubakar by the Federal Civil Service Commission and hired into the Customs Service as Atiku Abubakar. So where is the forgery there?”

Atiku also challenged the APC to forward their questions to their boss (Tinubu) and former President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been accused of not having a valid secondary school certificate.

The issue of certificate forgery has been a recurring theme in Nigerian politics, as several politicians have been accused of falsifying their academic qualifications or presenting fake certificates.