The Chicago State University (CSU) has released the academic records of President Bola Tinubu, following requests by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election.
The CSU was ordered to make Tinubu’s academic records available by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois over the weekend.
The university stated that the diplomas are in the same format as the Tinubu replacement, dated June 27, 1997, in answer to Abubakar’s third request, which asked for the release of a copy of the diplomas awarded in 1997.
“The records that CSU was able to identify in response to this request after conducting a thorough search are provided herewith, with Bates labelling them CSU 0008 through CSU 0010. For reasons of privacy, the names of the students on these diplomas have been redacted. Additionally, CSU is creating diplomas for other students (with their names withheld for privacy) that are identical to the format of the June 27, 1997, Tinubu replacement, which Bates is labelling as CSU 0011 and 0012, the university stated.
The institution released a number of samples of diplomas (certificates) given to other students in 1979 upon Abubakar’s request.
In the run-up to the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu had earlier stated that he had misplaced his original diplomas from CSU, but he had given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) a substitute.
According to the recently disclosed CSU records, Tinubu was referred to as “Mr.” in what appeared to be an acceptance letter.
In the undergraduate admissions application, he also checked the box for “male.”
On the other hand, “F” appears in some of the transcripts that are making the rounds online, implying “female.”
The diploma samples provided by CSU in 1997 have the same font and logo as the ones Tinubu submitted to INEC, but the date is different.
In its affidavit, CSU acknowledged responsibility for the disparity and attributed it to a clerical error.
US magistrate judge Jeffrey Gilbert approved the request on September 19 and mandated that CSU provide Tinubu’s academic records to him within a day.
The president, however, took action to thwart it by appealing the ruling.
Tinubu’s arguments were overcome by federal judge Nancy Maldonado, who mandated that CSU provide the president’s academic records.
The institution responded to Abubakar’s request by stating that it was unable to locate a duplicate of the original certificate that Tinubu had received in 1979.
On the other hand, “F” appears in some of the transcripts that are making the rounds online, implying “female.”
The diploma samples provided by CSU in 1997 have the same font and logo as the ones Tinubu submitted to INEC, but the date is different.
The university claimed that it “has no documents responsive to this request” because it “does not in the ordinary course keep copies of student diplomas and after diligent search cannot locate a copy of the original diploma prepared for Mr. Tinubu in 1979.”
In order to verify that the president graduated from the university in the aforementioned year, the university supplied redacted diplomas of other students that were identical to Tinubu’s.
