Doctorate: UNIPORT Alumni Backs Jonathan

Doctorate: UNIPORT Alumni Backs Jonathan

The University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association on Friday faulted a columnist (not with PUNCH) for allegedly questioning former President Goodluck Jonathan’s doctoral degree.

The association said the columnist had while writing on Jonathan’s book, “My Transition Hours,” which was presented to the public recently, raised questions about the former President’s certificate.

In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja by its National President, Chief Chris Adokeme, the association expressed disappointment at the article.

Describing Jonathan as the number one alumnus of the UNIPORT, Adokeme said the association would not watch helplessly and allow anyone to get away with “an evil and mischievous attempt to ridicule the person of Dr. Jonathan.”

He recalled that there were similar attempts ahead of the 2015 general elections to rubbish Jonathan’s doctoral degree.

He added that the UNIPORT had at the time responded through its Head of Public Relations, Williams Wodi, that the former President got his doctorate in Zoology in 1995, after a Master of Science degree in Hydrobiology and Fisheries in 1985 and a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology in 1981.

Adokeme wondered why the columnist would pick on Jonathan whose academic credentials, he said, were not in dispute.

He added, “If he (the columnist) was desperate to unearth academic sleaze among Nigerian leaders, there were enough public officials to take on, but certainly, not the doctorate of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

“While expressing gratitude to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his role in making our most illustrious alumnus President of Nigeria, it is wrong to regard a governor of an oil-rich state, who became Vice President, as rising from obscurity.

“There are some former governors who are reportedly scheming to be President, will he regard such politicians, if successful, as rising from obscurity?”

PUNCH

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