Why we can’t verify Tinubu’s certificate – Chicago varsity

Why we can’t verify Tinubu’s certificate – Chicago varsity

The Chicago State University (CSU) says it cannot authenticate the certificate President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the February 25 presidential elections.

Counsel for CSU, Michael Hayes, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking before Judge Jeffrey Gilbert in Chicago.

He stated that the school was not in a position to authenticate Tinubu’s certificate as either fake or genuine.

This however contradicted the school’s previous assertions that it issued a certificate to Tinubu after he graduated in 1979.

Hayes, at the hearing in Chicago, which lasted several hours in suit filed by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said, “Is the diploma authentic or is it a forgery? My client can’t answer yes to either of those questions.”

The lawyer maintained the school’s administrators would not be able to certify Tinubu’s certificate because they “just don’t know” where he obtained it or how.

Hayes was responding to the judge’s inquiry into the school’s ability to confirm under oath that Tinubu was issued the certificate he tendered to Nigeria’s electoral office as part of his final eligibility paperwork in June 2022.

Hayes insisted that CSU records showed Tinubu attended the school, but admitted there were several contradictions that the school’s administrators won’t be able to clarify under oath.

Those discrepancies included the June 22, 1977, date that Tinubu’s certificate carried as well as the school’s president at the time the certificate was obtained and typographical, font and header errors on the document.

Background

Tinubu on June 17, 2022 submitted a certificate to INEC that was purportedly issued in 1979 and signed by Elnora Daniel.

But Daniel only arrived at the CSU in 1998 from Hampton University, 19 years after Tinubu was said to have graduated.

She then left the school in 2008 following a financial mismanagement scandal or 14 years before June 2022 when the CSU issued yet a fresh certificate in Tinubu’s name under subpoena from a Nigerian lawyer, who had inquired about Tinubu’s education there.

The contradictions, among others, caused Atiku to file the suit to compel the CSU to produce records relating to Tinubu and make its top officials available for deposition to certify the produced records, according to the opposition leader’s lawyers.

Alexandre de Gramont, who appeared in court for Atiku, said the documents and depositions were being sought for use in the Nigerian Supreme Court, where the final battle over Tinubu’s election has headed.

Atiku has until September 20 to appeal the September 6 decision of the Court of Appeal.