Tinubu Admits Error In Chicago Varsity Certificates, Blames Clerk

By: Aina Ojonugwa

August 25, – Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, has blamed the clerk of the Chicago State University (CSU) for errors in his academic documents and certificate.

The President made the disclosure in court filings before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in response to a legal process initiated by former Nigeria’s Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku, in an application filed at the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, is asking the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.

The Court had given President Tinubu up until August 23 to make a formal filing on why his records should not be released to the petitioner, Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku had subpoenaed the CSU to make Tinubu’s academic records available for his access, believing that such discoveries would shed more light on the controversies surrounding the President’s academic records.

There have been crises of authenticity about the documents that Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and a viral document that the CSU, in the 1970s, admitted a female student bearing Bola Tinubu, who was born on March 29, 1954.

In complying with the directive of the court, President Tinubu’s lawyer, on Wednesday, said that an unidentified clerk of the university “unfortunately” made the errors as to the dates the school stated on his recently-issued certificate and when he actually graduated, thereby creating “the appearance of differences.”

Tinubu’s new claim was made before the judge hearing the case, Jeffery Gilbert of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

Tinubu’s response, which was signed by his lawyers, Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, quoted in part, “Unfortunately, in responding to the illegal and invalid subpoena, CSU made several errors.

“CSU issued a new diploma for Bola A. Tinubu, but incorrectly wrote the date of graduation as June 27, 1979.

“The correct date was June 22, 1979, but that scrivener’s error – along with a change in the CSU logo, the font on the diploma, and leadership at CSU who signed the diploma created the appearance of differences between an earlier issued diploma and the one issued in response to the 2022 subpoena.”