The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) officially changed his name from Siddiq Abubakar to Atiku Abubakar, as per a declaration of oath sworn in August 1973.
“In the year 1965, I changed my name to Siddiq Abubakar; I wish to be known, addressed, and called Atiku Abubakar; all documents bearing my former names remain valid,” Mr. Abubakar declared at the Chief Magistrate’s Court Registry in Lagos on August 18, 1973.
The document clarified how the former vice-president was previously known as Atiku Abubakar before briefly using Siddiq Abubakar and then switching back to Atiku Abubakar, which has remained unchanged ever since.
At the time of the affidavit, Mr. Abubakar was a deputy preventive superintendent with the Nigeria Customs Service in Apapa, Lagos.
Questions about Mr. Abubakar’s previous use of Siddiq have recently been raised by aides and supporters of President Bola Tinubu, who have been trying to shift global attention from the Nigerian leader for engaging in a well-documented pattern of forgery and fictitious claims under oath.
Mr. Tinubu’s supporters have circulated documents showing that Mr. Abubakar took the West African Examination (WAEC) in the 60s using “Siddiq,” in an attempt to discredit the PDP candidate who aims to overturn Mr. Tinubu’s victory at the Supreme Court, alleging that he presented a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission in violation of the Nigerian Constitution.
Last Thursday, Mr. Abubakar provided the apex court with fresh evidence that Mr. Tinubu submitted a forged Chicago State University (CSU) certificate to INEC, shortly after the school’s registrar, Caleb Westberg, stated under oath that he could not authenticate the document because the institution did not issue it.
Additionally, the school assumed the ‘A’ in Bola A. Tinubu’s name was Ahmed, according to the deposition on October 3, where Mr. Westberg was questioned for more than five hours by Mr. Abubakar’s attorneys, led by Angela Liu of Chicago-based Dechert LLP. This further fueled rumors of identity fraud because other documents that belonged to Mr. Tinubu showed he answered Bola Adekunle Tinubu.
Even before The Gazette obtained the 1973 affidavit, Mr. Abubakar’s supporters had maintained that the opposition leader did not do anything wrong, and definitely not on the scale of the president’s widespread contradictions that many categorized as bordering on criminality.
But Mr. Tinubu’s aides accused Mr. Abubakar of using another person’s WAEC certificate to enroll in public service, although people of northern extraction said Siddiq Abubakar was a common usage across the region even until now.
Mr. Abubakar retired from the Nigerian Customs Service in 1989, subsequently moving into the private sector while playing key roles in the country’s political journey ever since.
Mr. Abubakar’s supporters also recirculate his photos with his classmates from high school in Adamawa and challenge Mr. Tinubu to show a photo of him with his classmates.
In 1999, the Old Students Association of Government College Ibadan canceled a dinner scheduled in Mr. Tinubu’s honor after establishing that he was never a student there, contrary to his claim under oath.
