President Bola Tinubu has implicated a clerk at Chicago State University as responsible for blatant irregularities that characterised a certificate th
President Bola Tinubu has implicated a clerk at Chicago State University as responsible for blatant irregularities that characterised a certificate the school reprinted in his name, according to new court filings.
He said the unnamed clerk unfortunately made the errors as to the dates the school stated on his recently-issued certificate and when he actually graduated, thereby creating the appearance of differences.
Tinubu’s statement was filed on August 23 by his counsel as part of his argument before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Judge Jeffrey Gilbert had given the Nigerian politician until August 23 to explain why his academic records at CSU should not be released to his political opponent Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu said he was born on March 29, 1952, although he had also, at different times, listed 1954 as his birth year in the past. He also recently expunged his primary and secondary education from his records after it was discovered that the schools he listed under oath in his 1999 run for Lagos governor did not exist anywhere in Nigeria.
Abubakar believed the requested records would show which early and high papers Mr Tinubu submitted to CSU before he was admitted to study accounting there.
Abubakar had sued to obtain Tinubu’s school records under a U.S. statute that allows documents available in the U.S. to be subpoenaed for use as evidence in a foreign court…
“Unfortunately, in responding to the illegal and invalid subpoena, CSU made several errors,” Tinubu’s attorneys said.
“CSU issued a new diploma for Bola A. Tinubu, but incorrectly wrote the date of graduation as June 27, 1979.”
They also argued that the Nigerian court hearing the election petitions had already concluded hearing on arguments, and a judgment is now being anticipated. The court is expected to deliver judgment on or before September 21.
Abubakar’s legal team, led by Chicago-based attorney, Angela Marie Liu, is expected to file a response.
