Chicago State University has resolved the controversy surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s academic background by confirming the authenticity of his records and certificates, as revealed in a collection of documents obtained by this newspaper.
The Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, had subpoenaed the university to provide records of Tinubu’s graduation in 1979.
In compliance with a US court order, the university submitted the documents to Abubakar’s legal team on Monday. However, since the submission, numerous reports have circulated, insinuating that the President forged his certificates or had a forged identity.
Nevertheless, the full transcripts of the deposition given by the university’s registrar, Caleb Westberg, have vindicated the President and put the controversies to rest.
During the deposition, which lasted over two hours, Westberg provided details on how the university authenticated Tinubu’s documents, including a replacement certificate. The 125-page deposition obtained by this newspaper revealed that Westberg mentioned the university had been receiving inquiries about Tinubu’s records for the past 20 years, ranging from five to 30 requests per day.
Validation
The CSU Registrar affirmed that Tinubu graduated from the institution in 1979, majoring in Accounting under business administration. He also verified that the certificates presented by the university in 1979 bore similarities with the replacement diploma Tinubu obtained in 1999.
The university had provided other replacement diplomas with the same design, font, and logo as the one presented to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Confirming Tinubu’s certificate, Westberg noted that the institution possessed a reordered copy of the President’s replacement diploma. He also clarified that the university held copies of the President’s transcripts as additional evidence of his scholarship.
“In general in the US, the diploma is a ceremonial document. In other countries, it is a more official document. For us, it is not,” he noted.
Gender Argument
Central to the controversies was the speculation that some of the documents addressed Tinubu as a female.
Examining Westberg’s testimony, Abubakar’s attorney, Angela Liu, asked, “So how are you sure that Bola A. Tinubu, listed here as female, is the same Bola A. Tinubu, who is President of Nigeria?”
Addressing the discrepancy, Westberg stated that the university was not confused about Tinubu’s gender.
“The university is not confused about that. We issued an admissions letter to Mr. Bola Tinubu. He applied as a male student. That is a part of the record,” he said.
Regarding the review of the SSN (social security number) on the document being circulated as showing Bola Tinubu as female, the registrar stated that it was clearly an error.
“Human errors happen,” the official commented.
When asked how the university concluded that President Tinubu was the same as the Bola Tinubu who attended the school in the 1970s, Westberg noted that the school reviewed materials, including Tinubu’s student file, addresses, names, fields of study, and other relevant details.
“The university would have reviewed all of these materials when we received them,” he stated in response to a question from Tinubu’s lawyer, Henderson.
