The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, declared that he will only cease his legal challenge against President Bola Tinubu if the Supreme Court delivers a ruling in favor of the President. 

Atiku made this declaration during a press conference held in Abuja on Thursday to discuss the matter of President Bola Tinubu’s academic records, which were recently released by Chicago State University (CSU). 

When questioned about the possibility of withdrawing from the legal dispute against President Tinubu, Atiku responded, “The case is still in court. I’ll only drop this fight if the court rules. If the court rules that I’m right, fine, if the court rules that Tinubu is right, fine. There’s no other court higher than the Supreme Court. That is where it all ends.”

Meanwhile, Atiku also disproved allegations that he betrayed Tinubu, who many see as his former political ally.

His words, “I disagree with Tinubu, yes it’s true that we came together in 2007. In Lagos, at the convention, I emerged winner and got the party’s ticket. After I got the ticket, he sent me about five or six senior party men, and they met me and said Bola (Tinubu) wanted to be my running mate.

“I said, gentlemen, you are all old enough, and asked, what would be your reaction to having a Muslim-Muslim ticket?

“They all answered that they objected to it, I then told them they should have told him and that was the end of the political relationship; he (Tinubu) broke away, and supported Umaru Yar’Adua. So what is the ground for him to say I betrayed him?

“In 2003, the PDP took over all the southwestern states with the exception of Lagos. I stood between Obasanjo and Tinubu and told Obasanjo to leave Lagos, and he left it. I vehemently deny that I stabbed Tinubu in the back.

“Till today, I won’t do a Muslim-Muslim ticket; I don’t have to be president; we are a multi-ethnic and multi-religious people, and our government must reflect our diversity, and our composition must reflect the same.”

It’s worth noting that Atiku had obtained President Tinubu’s educational records from CSU using a court-ordered subpoena, contradicting the President’s initial refusal to disclose them. These released records, initially on October 3 and supplemented by a deposition on Tuesday, revealed a discrepancy. Specifically, they revealed that the 1979 CSU certificate that Tinubu had submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) differed from the certificates the University had issued to students in that same year.