BREAKING: Atiku Insists On Striping Tinubu In U.S. Court As President Blames Chicago Varsity On Disparities In Credentials

The controversy surrounding the the embattled President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have reached its point of demystification as the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is hell bent on confirming whether he attended Chicago State University not with the United States Court already attending to the nagging issue.

Recall that Mr Abubakar, earlier this month, requested court approval to subpoena Mr Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU because he believed the documents would clarify glaring inconsistencies in Mr Tinubu’s background, including publicly-available documents that suggested the CSU in the 1970s admitted a female student bearing Bola Tinubu who was born on March 29, 1954. 

The court had also granted Atiku leave, thereby ordering Tinubu to explain why his certificate and other University credentials should not be made open, with stipulated date of August 23, 2023.

The Nigerian president 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.

Alhaji 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.

PDP presidential candidate had sued to obtain Mr 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.

Mr Abubakar argued that Mr Tinubu had presented contradictory claims in Nigeria and the CSU, in responding to a previous subpoena, had issued documents that contradicted what Mr Tinubu had entered under oath in Nigeria.

The incumbent Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed 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. Mr 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.

The Nigerian president 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.”

Mr 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.