After former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar refused to release his academic records, PREMIUM TIMES has challenged him to name the alleged “parent owner” in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Gatekeepers News reports that the challenge comes in response to Abubakar’s efforts to compel a US court to release Tinubu’s academic records, claiming they were fraught with “discrepancies.”
The online newspaper asked Abubakar to provide his academic records.The newspaper said Abubakar’s refusal to release his academic records draw a parallel with his doggedness to compel a US court to release Tinubu’s academic records.
Paul Ibe, Abubakar’s spokesperson, accused PREMIUM TIMES of engaging in a witch-hunt.
“The ethics of journalism seeks to establish the truth when there is a dispute about it or when there is a deliberate cover-up that inhibits public interest,” Paul Ibe, spokesperson of the former vice-president, was quoted as saying in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES.
“What the Premium Times has done in this case keeps faith in neither of these two precepts. The story in reference by Premium Times is nothing other than witch-hunt — and a callous one at that.
“Were the publishers of the Premium Times stable interested in the truth, it would have been more honourable for them to start their busybody foray into politicians’ academic records by interrogating the discoveries from the Chicago State University.
“They certainly refrained from that engagement for the obvious reason that a parent owner of the newspaper occupies a critical seat in the current government.”
In response, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Musikilu Mojeed, dared Abubakar to name the person he claimed to be a “parent owner” of the newspaper holding a critical seat in the current government.
“Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should be bold enough to name the person he claimed to be a parent owner of our newspaper that occupies a critical seat in the current government,” Musikilu Mojeed, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, said.
“We dare him to name the person.”
Mojeed said it is “unfortunate” that Abubakar could make such an allegation without any proof.
