The revelation of President Bola Tinubu’s academic credentials by Chicago State University, CSU, to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has elicited mixed reactions.
The release was in accordance with the District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division’s order.
Remember that on Saturday, the court ordered the CSU to give Mr Tinubu’s academic records to Mr Abubakar, the People Democratic Party’s presidential contender in the 2023 election.
Details of the released documents sought by Mr Abubakar showed that the university complied with his request for a true, correct copy of the diploma for Bachelor of Science degree issued in 1979 and Bates labelled as CSU 0001 through 0007 with an obscured student’s name which they said was for privacy reasons.
The university, however, said it did not have a true and correct copy relating to the diploma it issued in 1979 to Tinubu as it did not keep copies of certificates.
The university said, “CSU does not in the ordinary course keep copies of student diplomas, and after diligent search cannot locate a copy of the original diploma it prepared for Mr Tinubu in 1979, hence has no documents responsive to this request.
On the former vice president’s request for any of the university’s diplomas other than that of Mr Tinubu that “contains the same font, seal, signatures, and wording which purports to be a CSU diploma issued to the president on or about June 22, 1979, the university said after diligent search it located and bates labelled them CSU 0008 through CSU 0010 and obscured the student’s identity for privacy reasons.
However, the release of the document has generated mixed reactions on social media, especially the microblogging site, X.
While some believed the released document had settled the age-long debate on Mr Tinubu’s credentials, others said it vindicated their claim that the president submitted forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
In a piece titled “6 Major Findings about Tinubu from the CSU Documents, A professor of journalism Farooq Kperogi said the president did graduate from the CSU but forged his certificate after losing the original one.
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“Although he did legitimately graduate from Chicago State University in 1979, he obviously lost his certificate and, instead of applying for a replacement, decided to forge it.
“That appears to be mysterious self-harm.” A replacement diploma from CSU costs only $26. However, after completing the diploma replacement order form, it takes between eight and ten weeks to obtain it.
“My guess is that, in the typical last-minute, fire-brigade approach to things among Nigerian elites, Tinubu didn’t plan ahead and didn’t have enough time to apply for his replacement diploma from CSU to meet INEC’s deadline and decided to visit Lagos’ infamous Oluwole for a counterfeit,” he stated.
Another X user, @Ukomah, stated, “Bola Tinubu used a lady’s Southwest College result to ‘possibly’ enter Chicago State University.” He’s also an identity thief! “I did not say it; the documents did.”
@RealQueenBee__ has also claimed
“There is a case of identity theft and certificate/academic fraud, which are also visibly clear and have been established by the records shared.
“Therefore, it has now been officially confirmed that Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted a forged degree certificate to INEC.
But in his reaction, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, asked Mr Abubakar to apologise to the president after engaging in a futile exercise.
“From the responses by Chicago State University, ATIKU’s journey to Chicago and back has been a journey to nowhere, a fruitless exercise, and an odyssey in self-humiliation. President Tinubu and Nigerians deserve an unreserved apology from him,” Mr Keyamo wrote.
Also, a former aide to the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, said: “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 reported 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”.
