The qualifications of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2023 presidential election have become the center of a heated controversy.
This includes his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from Chicago State University,
These records, coupled with his primary and secondary school education details, have been a topic of discussion since his declaration of interest in Nigeria’s highest leadership position.
Background
The dispute took a legal turn when former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, initiated a lawsuit in a county court in Illinois, seeking access to President Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University.
However, this legal battle took an unexpected twist when Atiku formally withdrew his lawsuit, prompting Judge Patrick J. Heneghan to dismiss the case on July 31st, citing the dismissal as “without prejudice.’
Subsequently, Atiku made a significant move on August 2nd by requesting academic records from Chicago State University in the United States.
Atiku’s objective was to authenticate the diploma President Tinubu had presented to the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the 2023 presidential election.
the controversy had arisen regarding discrepancies between the diploma Tinubu provided and a recently discovered one, dated June 27, 1979, bearing Tinubu’s name but appearing noticeably different.
In response, Tinubu argued that Atiku’s request was not directly related to their ongoing legal dispute in Nigeria since the issues surrounding his education were not explicitly mentioned in Atiku’s original complaint.
Atiku, however, emphasized the gravity of the matter, saying submitting a fraudulent document to INEC in Nigeria could have severe repercussions.
Atiku filed this application in the U.S. court while his challenge to the presidential election was still pending in the Nigerian Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, explaining that it aimed to gather evidence to support his case in the Nigerian Court of Appeal.
Court documents revealed that shortly after Atiku’s application, President Tinubu filed a motion to join the lawsuit, which was granted by the judge on August 7th.
The documents Atiku sought included true and correct copies of:
- An exemplar of a Chicago State University diploma issued to President Tinubu in 1979.
- Intervenor’s diploma issued in 1979.
- Any exemplar of a Chicago State University diploma that “contains the same font, seal, signatures, and wording as contained in Exhibit C to the First Liu Declaration, which purports to be a CSU diploma issued to Mr. Tinubu on or about June 22, 1979.”
- The CSU documents that were certified and produced by Jamar Orr (an associate general counsel at CSU) as well as communications relating to these documents.
On September 27th, Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert ordered Chicago State University to provide Atiku with relevant academic documents within a two-day timeframe.
These documents encompassed records of Tinubu’s admission, acceptance, dates of attendance, degrees earned, as well as any awards and honors achieved during his time at the university.
With the deadline set by Magistrate Gilbert looming, Tinubu’s legal team approached US District Judge Nancy Maldonado, arguing that Magistrate Gilbert’s prior decision required review by a district judge.
Alongside their review request, they requested a delay in the execution of the order until the following Monday.
Responding to Tinubu’s legal team’s request, US District Judge Nancy Maldonado issued an order on Thursday, emphasizing the directive that compelled Chicago State University to provide Atiku’s legal team with Tinubu’s academic documents.
Judge Maldonado’s decision followed an emergency motion filed by Tinubu’s legal team late Thursday night, which sought a postponement of the self-executing order instructing CSU to comply with Atiku’s subpoenas until the beginning of the next week.
During the emergency hearing, Judge Maldonado emphasized the importance of adhering to legal deadlines in Nigeria and expressed her commitment to ruling on the matter promptly.
The latest controversy in this ongoing legal battle took place when a key CSU official, Mr. Carl Westberg, made a startling declaration.
On Tuesday, Westberg, who holds the position of Registrar at CSU, testified under oath that the replacement copy of the Diploma certificate submitted by Tinubu to INEC was not issued by the institution.
He confessed that this was his first encounter with the Diploma certificate during the proceedings.
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During Westberg’s testimony, it became evident that Tinubu’s Diploma certificate did not align with CSU’s records.
For instance, Westberg revealed that there was no board of trustees at the university in 1979, contrary to the claim made on the certificate submitted by Tinubu to INEC.
Furthermore, when questioned about the signatures on certificates issued in 1979 versus the one presented to INEC, Westberg acknowledged discrepancies in signature, logo, and seal.
Notably, he pointed out that the signature on Tinubu’s replacement certificate matched certificates issued in the 1990s, rather than those from 1979, as asserted by Tinubu.
In light of these revelations, Atiku is expected to receive a certified true copy of the deposition and cross-examination, which could further substantiate the controversy of his allegations of document forgery against Tinubu.
