Chicago State University Releases Tinubu’s Academic Records

Eko Hot Blog reports that Chicago State University (CSU) in Chicago, Illinois, United States (US), has released the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.

The move followed multiple requests by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election in Nigeria.

Atiku argued that the records would boost his petition challenging the president’s election in the February 25 presidential poll.

Over the weekend, the US district court for the northern district of Illinois ordered the CSU to release the academic records of Tinubu.

On Monday, the American university released the records and authenticated the president’s certificate.

Responding to Atiku’s third request, which was to release a copy of the diplomas issued in 1997, the university said certificates match the format of the Tinubu replacement dated June 27, 1997.

“The documents responsive to this request which CSU, after diligent search, has been able to locate are produced herewith and Bates labelled CSU 0008 through CSU 0010. The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons. CSU is also producing, Bates labelled as CSU 0011 and 0012, diplomas produced for other CSU students (with their names redacted for privacy) which match the format of the Tinubu replacement dated June 27, 1997,” the university wrote.

Several samples of diplomas (certificates) awarded in 1979 to other students were released by the university as demanded by Atiku.

Tinubu had previously claimed to have lost his original certificates but presented a
replacement for his CSU diploma to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) for the 2023 presidential election.

In the new documents released by CSU, Tinubu was addressed as a “Mr” in what looked like an admission letter.

He also ticked “male” in the undergraduate admissions application form.

However, his high school transcript from Southwest College, Chicago, indicates his gender as “F”, suggesting “female”.

This discrepancy has generated speculations that the president impersonated a female and presented the person’s result to gain admission into the university.

However, the name on the transcript reads Tinubu Bola, A., dismissing any suggestion of impersonation and suggesting that the ‘F’ on the gender column of the transcript was a mistake.

Meanwhile, the samples of diplomas released by CSU did not include 1997, the year Tinubu received the replacement certificate.

Nevertheless, the samples of 1998 and 1999 diplomas released by the university bear the same font, logo, and signatures of what the president submitted to INEC.

Here are CSU’s responses to Atiku’s subpoena:

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