The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party—PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has petitioned the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation—BBC, over a misleading report on the academic certificate of President Bola Tinubu.
Recall that BBC in a report titled: ‘Bola Tinubu diploma: No evidence Nigeria’s president forged college record’ claimed that Tinubu did not forge his certificate.
The report which was published on Wednesday has stirred serious reactions across the country.
Though, BBC which is notoriously known for promoting political puppets in Africa loyal to the British authorities, was suspected to have concocted the misleading report as a way of whitewashing the image of the Nigerian leader who has been enmeshed in forgery scandal.
Meanwhile, Phrank Shaibu, the special assistant on public communications to Mr Atiku, during an interview on Channels TV 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.
