Tinubu blames Chicago State University clerk for invalid graduation date, signature, logo, other anomalies on his certificate

President Tinubu Blames Chicago State University Clerk for Certificate Irregularities Amidst Legal Battle.

 

 

 

President Bola Tinubu has alleged that a clerk at Chicago State University (CSU) is to blame for the glaring anomalies present in a recently reprinted certificate issued in his name. The claims were revealed through court filings submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, as part of President Tinubu’s response to a lawsuit brought forward by his political opponent, Atiku Abubakar.

 

The court documents, dated August 23, detail President Tinubu’s assertion that the clerk inadvertently introduced errors in the dates of graduation and other vital information on the certificate. These errors, President Tinubu argues, created the appearance of discrepancies.

 

Read Also Wike visits scene of Abuja collapsed building, insists more building will go down

 

Judge Jeffrey Gilbert had granted President Tinubu until August 23 to explain why his academic records at CSU should not be released for scrutiny in response to the subpoena requested by Atiku Abubakar. Abubakar’s lawsuit, filed earlier in the month, sought the approval to subpoena President Tinubu’s academic records from CSU to address inconsistencies and contradictions within the President’s background.

 

The discrepancies involve public records suggesting that a female student named Bola Tinubu, born on March 29, 1954, was admitted to CSU in the 1970s. President Tinubu, however, claims he was born on March 29, 1952, although he had previously stated 1954 as his birth year at different times.

 

Pay Attention To BREAKING: FCT minister Wike orders immediate arrest of owner of Abuja collapsed building

 

Furthermore, President Tinubu’s legal team revealed that he had recently removed his primary and secondary education records from official records after it was discovered that the schools he listed during his 1999 run for Lagos governor did not actually exist in Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar believes that the subpoenaed records would clarify the academic history President Tinubu submitted to CSU for his admission to study accounting.

 

Atiku Abubakar’s legal argument centers around a U.S. statute that allows local documents to be subpoenaed for use as evidence in a foreign court. He asserts that President Tinubu’s contradictory claims in Nigeria and CSU’s conflicting responses to a previous subpoena show discrepancies that need to be addressed.

 

President Tinubu’s legal representatives, led by Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, countered the legality of the subpoena issued in August 2022 by Nigerian lawyer Mike Enahoro-Ebah, arguing that there were no valid grounds to request the documents under education privacy rights. The legal team, however, admitted that the documents did indeed originate from CSU, pointing to a mistake by an unnamed clerk who erroneously typed the graduation date.

 

President Tinubu’s lawyers argued that the differences in signatures, logos, fonts, and other anomalies on the certificate contributed to the perception of wrongdoing. They clarified that the correct graduation date was June 22, 1979, whereas the incorrect date was June 27, 1979.

 

Atiku Abubakar’s legal team, led by Angela Marie Liu, is expected to respond to President Tinubu’s arguments, particularly his assertion that the requested documents should not be sought since they were not part of the initial Nigerian election litigation and might be inadmissible at this stage of the case.

 

As both parties continue to battle in court, the Nigerian court overseeing the election petitions is set to deliver its judgment by September 21, in accordance with the Nigerian electoral law. The presidential election, held on February 25, saw Bola Tinubu assume office as President on May 29. The ongoing legal tussle remains a focal point in the country’s political landscape.