A former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has explained why President Bola Tinubu’s Chicago State University diploma looks different from others.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Tinubu’s academic records were released by Chicago State University on Monday, following requests by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections.
After the release, some commentators raised questions over discrepancies in these documents.
However, Omokri said Tinubu’s diploma is different because it is a replacement. He explained that Tinubu’s original diploma was stolen when his house was raided by unknown persons sent by the Abacha administration in 1994.
“When you lose your original certificate, you can get a ceremonial replacement certificate from any number of third-party commercial vendors who will issue it to you after verifying from the original institution that you attended their school,” Omokri said.
He added that Tinubu’s replacement diploma looks different from others because it was issued by a third-party vendor, not Chicago State University.
Omokri also challenged anyone who doubts his explanation to sue him in court.
“AriseTV lied,” Omokri said. “And if they are sure of their claims, I challenge them to sue me in court. What they did is not investigative journalism. It is yellow journalism.”
Yesterday, Chicago State University released documents validating Bola Tinubu’s academic records. They did that under the penalty of perjury. It is now established beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was right, and AriseTV repotted lies to Nigerians passed off as truth. I am never for Bola Tinubu, but I will not lie and say that he did not attend a university I know he attended.
But you may ask, why is his Chicago State University diploma looking different from others?
Nigerians may recall that on Friday, June 24, 2022, Bola Tinubu said all his academic certificates, including and especially his certificate from the University of Chicago, were stolen when unknown persons sent by the Abacha administration raided his house while he was away on exile in Europe and America.
This was published by all major newspapers in Nigeria the next day. In an affidavit, Bola Tinubu said that he:
“Went on self exile from October 1994 to October 1998, when I returned and discovered that my property including all the documents relating to my qualification and my certificates in respect of paragraph 3 above, were looted by unknown persons.”
When you lose your original certificate, you can get a ceremonial replacement certificate from any number of third-party commercial vendors who will issue it to you after verifying from the original institution that you attended their school.
If you studied in the United States and want a replacement certificate, just Google these words ‘how to get a ceremonial replacement certificate.’
For example, in 1983, I attended an Elementary School in Albany, California, just outside the University of California, Berkeley. My parents have died, and the whereabouts of my record from that school was with them, and I was just nine years old at that time, so I have no proof that I attended beyond photographs.
However, there are academic records, and I can pay commercial third-party sites to verify those records and issue me a ceremonial certificate. That is what Bola Tinubu did.
Any interested parties can contact Chicago State University via their phone number (+1 (773) 995-2517) and their email address (CSU-Registrar@csu.edu) to verify what I have written above.
AriseTV lied. And if they are sure of their claims, I challenge them to sue me in court. What they did is not investigative journalism. It is yellow journalism.
