‘I hope you restore our stolen mandate,’ award-winning scholar Aderinto tells Tinubu, calls Obi ‘my president-elect’

Nigeria’s award-winning scholar, Prof. Saheed Aderinto, Monday, took a subtle dig at President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had congratulated him on his recent feat of winning the prestigious Dan David Prize.

This is also as the Ibadan-born 44 year-old, United States-based and Founding President of the Lagos Studies Association, further recognised the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) at the February 25 polls, Peter Obi, as the Nigeria’s President-elect.

It would be recalled that Prof. Aderinto emerged as one of the winners of the world’s largest history prize, the $300,000 Dan David Prize.

Aderinto is a Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies at Florida International University, in the United States.

Congratulating Prof. Aderinto, a day after Peter Obi had first hailed the scholar, Asiwaju Tinubu in a message via his verified Twitter handle (@officialABAT), Monday, expressed ‘warm congratulations’ to Aderinto for winning the prestigious Dan David $300,000 prize in History.

However, in a shocking response to Tinubu’s message, the Professor first acknowledged the congratulations from the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate before shading the former Lagos State Governor with ‘Thanks anyway for the recognition, I hope you restore Our stolen Mandate.’

It would be recalled that earlier, Sunday, Peter Obi had first congratulated the scholar for winning the coveted prize, in a message posted via his verified Twitte handle (@peterobi), when he praised Aderinto as the ‘first and only Nigerian to have been awarded such prestigious prize in recognition of his outstanding scholarship in the very important field of history.’

“Today, I celebrate and felicitate with our Nigerian born Prof Saheed Aderinto, a Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies at Florida International University, who recently won the $300,000 Dan David Prize—the largest history prize in the world.

“Prof Aderinto is the First and only Nigerian to have been awarded such prestigious prize in recognition of his outstanding scholarship in the very important field of history.

“Beyond his financial reward, I am particularly thrilled by the achievements of intellectual giants like him who place Nigeria on the global map. As a firm promoter of education for societal development,

“I hope that his scholarly works will deepen our understanding of history and help sharpen our views for a better tomorrow. –PO”

Responding, Monday, Prof Aderinto wrote: “Thank you My President elect.”

Both replies were sent out on Monday by the professor via his Twitter handle (@Aderinto0).

The recently-concluded Presidential elections of February 25 has remained disputed as opposition political parties, and international election observers from the European Union (EU), African Union (AU), the United States, United Kingdom, as well as, civil society organisations, picked holes in its process and conduct by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) while commending the commitment and resilience of the Nigerian electorate.

So far, only the two political parties; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) have lodged suits at the Presidential Election Tribunal (PET) challenging the results and process of the election which produced Tinubu as president-elect, as declared by INEC.

The U.S and UK have also strongly urged the Nigerian government to put in place mechanism to resolve all disputes and concerns raised by opposition parties and other stakeholders arising from the presidential and National Assembly elections of February 25.