Did Tinubu Tell Nigerian Students That He Will Double Their Four-Year Course to Eight Years?

Leave a Comment / Fact Check / By

Loading

Oluwaseye Ogunsanya 

Claim

A Twitter user claimed that the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Osun state promised Nigerian students that he will double their four-year course to 8 years.

Verdict

True. Tinubu erroneously made the statement as claimed.

Full text 

A Twitter user NEFERTITI @firstladyship claimed that the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Osun state promised Nigerian students that he will double their four-year course to 8 years.

The APC presidential candidate took his campaign to Osogbo, the Osun State capital yesterday where he addressed supporters and party faithfuls, highlighting his plans for the state in Yoruba language.

Among other things, Tinubu said he would support Osun to be a manufacturing and tourism paradise. He also spoke on his plans for the youths.

Her tweet has garnered 2,423 retweets, 47 quote tweets and 6,230 likes so far.

Verification 

To ascertain this claim FactCheckElections did a check on the footage of the campaign here. 

In his remarks at the campaign addressed the youths especially those who are yet to gain admission into tertiary institutions.

Speaking in Yoruba he said: “Those of you in school, write it down. Call me a bastard if you spend more than eight years in school. You will study for eight years

“We called it for four years for you. It won’t be more than 4 years, those that cannot afford the fee will get a loan from the government” he added further.

Tinubu’s Many Gaffe

Since the beginning of the APC presidential rallies, Tinubu has constantly made the social media buzzing due to his many gaffes. These grievous mistakes have made the public cast doubts on his competence to lead the country especially in the area of his health and mental state but his campaign managers have constantly come to his defense by dismissing the insinuation.

One of such defenses was in an interview with PUNCH, the director of media of the APC campaign council, Bayo Onanuga said what people call a gaffe is incorrect. 

“What’s the big deal in having someone who wanted to call APC or PDP but ended up calling something else? These are minor slips and Tinubu even corrected himself on each occasion.” He said.

Below are some of the gaffes made by the APC presidential candidate since the commencement of campaigns.

God bless PD, APC

At the flag-off of his campaign in Plateau state, Tinubu suffered a gaffe while concluding his speech. He said: “God bless PD…” and quickly corrected himself by adding “God bless APC.”

“God bless PD… APC. God bless APC. APC. God bless APC. We will have the victory. God bless you,” he said.

The former Lagos State governor also referred to Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong as Solomon Dalung, former sports minister at the event.

Go and take your APV, APC 

The APC presidential candidate also erroneously called the permanent voter cards (PVCs) as “APV when he was at Lagos last November.

While addressing youths, the error happened when he asked the youths to get their PVCs to vote for him.

“Greatest Nigerian youths… Are you great? God bless you. Go and take your PVC and you vote APC. Do you love me? Go and take your APV, APC and you must vote. You must go that morning,” he said.

Turning a Rotten Situation Into a Bad One

In October Tinubu made this statement while speaking at the seventh Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KADInvest).

Speaking about El-rufai, Kaduna state governor, Tinubu said: “I am openly begging Nasir El-rufai not to run away for additional degree and excuse. He is going to Cairo—PhD and everything. There are a lot of educated relics. We are not going to let you run away, your vision, creativity and resilience in turning a rotten situation into a bad one is necessary at this critical time. That is why we are here today,”

In Tinubu’s defence, the director of media of the APC campaign council, Bayo Onanuga said the slip is “common to every human being and even great leaders.”

It was a mere slip, that is not unusual in life, even among leaders of nations. We recognise we are in a political season where everything is latched on for deliberate distortion and twisted mischief.

“While mischief makers went so low, we noted that the audience at KadInvest 7.0 followed Asiwaju Tinubu with rapt attention and knew he only had a slip.”

In his reaction also, Tinubu while addressing Arewa Joint Committee in Kaduna State described turning a rotten situation to a bad one as an achievement.

“Some people need to understand idioms. When I said he turned a rotten situation to a bad one, it is an achievement.” He said.

He further explained that a rotten situation is a state of mess, saying the process of improving such would lead to making it a bad one – as a template before turning it to a good one.

Prevent Church Rat From Eating Poisoned Holy Communion

Tinubu compared Nigeria’s compliance with global climate change directives to preventing “a church rat from eating poisoned holy communion” when responding to a question on how he would tackle climate change if elected president at the Arewa interactive committee last October. 

“It’s a question of how do you prevent a church rat from eating poisoned holy communion. That’s the way,”. He had said.

“We are a poor nation. They ban coal, and we follow. They say firewood is not for fetching. They say we need to plant more trees and they are not giving us money.

“We need to tell the West; if you don’t guarantee our finances and work with us to stop this, we are not going to comply with your climate change.” He explained. 

Although opinions are divided as to the accuracy of the statement or whether was erroneously made or not.

Bala Blu

At a townhall meeting in Imo state last November, Tinubu struggled to mutter some unknown words. 

In a meeting with members of the private sector in Owerri, Tinubu trying to justify his refusal to attend town hall debates said: “A town hall different from bala blu blu blu bulaba…”

Niger Delta State

In November, the APC candidate made a similar blunder while speaking in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State. 

While acknowledging dignitaries in the audience, Tinubu said, “I equally recognise today the deputy senate president currently and he will be the governor of Niger Delta State.”

Make a Down Payment For a Roasted Corn 

The APC presidential candidate in his campaign speech at Ebonyi last November took a swipe at the PDP as he highlighted some of the failures of the party’s 16 years in office, especially concerning power generation. 

Tinubu blasted the PDP for spending more than $16b on power without providing electricity. 

“16 years of PDP government we have no blinker of electricity. Theyspent more than $16 billion. They forget that transmission line is a super highway for generating power. They couldn’t even make a down payment for a roasted corn for that electricity.” He said.

Turning Yahoo Into Tech Experts and “Gazelle Gagaraga”

Tinubu also made another statement that got the internet buzzing when he vowed to convert advance fee fraudsters, known as Yahoo boys, into technology experts if elected president. He made this known during his campaign rally in Benin, Edo State last month.

“We will create jobs, we will turn this state into an energy state, we will turn the so-called Yahoo Boys into experts at the manufacturing and creation of chips…” he said 

Tinubu Calls Atiku Senate President 

Just last week Monday, the APC presidential candidate suffered yet another gaffe in Uyo, Akwa Ibom as he called Atiku Abubakar, a former senate president, instead of vice president.

“They don’t have a mandate; what they have na ice cream. E melt quick. You gave me their yeye people… Atiku, when we make am senate president, haba! You sell this, you sell that assets, our common wealth…everything that we have.” He said. 

Conclusion

FactCheckElections cabn conclude that Bola Tinubu made the statement although from his previous speeches at campaign rallies, it is obvious that those statements are erroneously made.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We Help Solve Your Legal Issues

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Get Appointment