Newly-revealed court documents obtained by the Peoples Gazette have unveiled that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has identified a clerk at Chicago State University (CSU) as the source of the discrepancies in his recently reissued certificate. President Tinubu stated that the unnamed clerk had inadvertently created errors in the dates on his certificate, resulting in the appearance of inconsistencies. These details were included in a statement filed on August 23 by President Tinubu’s legal representatives in response to an ongoing legal dispute in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The court case was initiated by political opponent Atiku Abubakar, who requested access to President Tinubu’s academic records at CSU to address apparent disparities in his background, particularly relating to his birth date and education. President Tinubu had listed multiple birth years in the past, and he recently removed his primary and secondary education details from his records after their authenticity was questioned. Abubakar sought these records under a U.S. statute permitting the subpoena of documents for use as evidence in a foreign court.

In response, President Tinubu’s legal team contended that the subpoena was illegitimate and argued that a clerical error had caused the incorrect graduation date to be recorded on the certificate. They explained that CSU had issued a new diploma with an incorrect graduation date of June 27, 1979, instead of the accurate date, June 22, 1979. The lawyers also noted that changes in authorized signatories, the university logo, and other factors led to the appearance of discrepancies between the earlier diploma and the one issued in response to the subpoena.

President Tinubu further maintained that Abubakar’s request was unwarranted since the academic records were not part of the initial litigation surrounding the Nigerian elections. His legal team argued that Abubakar’s focus had been on electoral irregularities, rather than the president’s academic background. The Nigerian court handling the election petitions is expected to deliver a judgment by September 21, in line with electoral law, as the presidential election took place on February 25, and President Tinubu assumed office on May 29.

Photo Credit: Peoples Gazette

The response from Abubakar’s legal team led by Chicago-based attorney Angela Marie Liu is anticipated, as they will likely address President Tinubu’s arguments regarding the relevance and admissibility of the requested documents.

Source: Peoples Gazette