Chicago State University Denies Issuing Certificate to Tinubu, Nigerian President’s Election in Jeopardy

Ilesanmi AdekanbiSeptember 13, 2023

2 minutes read

The legal battle over the validity of the certificate that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the February 25 presidential election has taken a new twist as Chicago State University (CSU) denied issuing the document to him.

On Tuesday, a U.S. District Court in Illinois heard a subpoena application filed by Atiku Abubakar, Tinubu’s main challenger and the candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), seeking CSU’s records and testimonies relating to Tinubu’s education at the school.

CSU’s lawyer, Michael Hayes, told Judge Jeffrey Gilbert that the school could not authenticate or deny Tinubu’s certificate as either genuine or fake, because it did not know where or how he obtained it.

He said the school’s records showed that Tinubu attended CSU, but there were several discrepancies that could not be explained by the school’s administrators under oath.

Some of the discrepancies include the date of June 22, 1977, on Tinubu’s certificate, which was two years before he graduated in 1979; the name of Elnora Daniel as the school’s president who signed the certificate, even though she only became the president in 1998 and left in 2008; and the typographical, font and header errors on the document.

Hayes said: “Is the diploma authentic or is it a forgery? My client can’t answer yes to either of those questions.”

Abubakar’s lawyer, Alexandre de Gramont, said the documents and testimonies were being sought for use in the Nigerian Supreme Court, where Abubakar plans to appeal the September 6 ruling of the Court of Appeal that upheld Tinubu’s election.

De Gramont said: “Your Honour, we don’t know whether the Nigerian Supreme Court would be receptive to the new evidence or not, but we just want to be able to present the new evidence to them from CSU. We already have them (the documents), what we are seeking is CSU’s authentication or their explanation for some of the discrepancies.”

Abubakar has until September 20 to file his appeal at the Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter in presidential election disputes in Nigeria.

It is illegal under the Nigerian Constitution to submit false documents to INEC, and several politicians have lost their seats for such offences.

Tinubu submitted his certificate to INEC in June 2022 as part of his eligibility requirements to run for president. He claimed he graduated from CSU in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

However, his certificate has been a subject of controversy and litigation since then, as Abubakar and other critics have questioned its authenticity and accused him of forgery.

Tinubu has not commented on the latest development from CSU, but he has previously maintained that his certificate was valid and that he was duly qualified to be president.

Source: Peoples Gazette