The certificate President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 presidential election was fake, the registrar of the Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg has said according to Peoples Gazette
Peoples Gazette reported this based on the testimony of the institution he arrogated, introducing a new but potentially fatal front in the ongoing battle to oust the Nigerian leader for his documented misdeeds from years gone by.
Caleb Westberg, the registrar of Chicago State University said the school was bombarded daily with many enquiries about its former student, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Giving the oral deposition ordered by Judge Maldonado to support the documents on President Bola Tinubu given to Atiku Abubakar, Westberg said the school receives between five and 30 enquiries daily about Tinubu.
However, he said at no time did the school notify Tinubu about the flood of enquiries, ostensibly from Nigeria.
CSU confirmed that Tinubu, indeed graduated from its University but couldn’t authenticate the certificate he submitted to INEC for the 2023 presidential election.
The official repudiation of Mr Tinubu’s certificate — the only academic qualification he presented to the electoral office — came at a deposition of school officials on Tuesday in Chicago.
An expanded transcript of the session is still being processed, but the most crucial expectation of Nigerians is how the school would characterise Mr Tinubu’s certificate under oath and penalty of perjury.
Caleb Westberg, the registrar at Chicago State University, said Mr Tinubu’s certificate, dated June 22, 1979, and tendered to INEC on June 17, 2022, was not issued by the school and its administrators could, therefore, not be able to authenticate its source.
The categorical statement capped a successful outcome for the monthslong legal strategy of Atiku Abubakar, Mr Tinubu’s main opponent, who approached the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago to ascertain the authenticity or otherwise of the document.
Federal district judge Nancy Maldonado granted a final other for CSU administrators to turn over all documents relating to Mr Tinubu to the school and also sit down for deposition by an adversarial team of lawyers deployed by Mr Abubakar.
Mr Tinubu, sensing the intractable consequences of the proceeding, vigorously fought to thwart its successful outcome, with his lawyers warning the judge in a September 21 hearing that releasing the documents with deposition would inevitably inflict severe, irreparable harm against the Nigerian president.
The school had long insisted that Mr Tinubu was its student, entering in 1977 and graduating in 1979, but its inability to authenticate the certificate the Nigerian president submitted would ripple through Nigeria’s over 200 million population for the foreseeable future.
Previously in 1999, Mr Tinubu had lied under oath when he ran for governor of Lagos, claiming he obtained a degree from the prestigious University of Chicago. However, he managed to escape being held accountable for the breach because he had been elected before it was discovered, and he did not submit a certificate backing his claim, only an affidavit that was later found to be fiction, and the Nigerian Supreme Court said he could not be charged with crimes as a serving governor. He subsequently stopped claiming attendance at the University of Chicago, holding on instead to a claim that he attended Chicago State University, one of Illinois State University campuses traditionally popular among black people.
Mr Tinubu was narrowly declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election, and he was only sworn in on May 29. But today’s development could all but mark a putative end to his presidency due to the constitutional proscription against the submission of a fake certificate to the electoral office.
Section 137 (1)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution (amended in 2010) specifically stated that no one would be legitimately elected president of Nigeria if the person “has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
The records obtained from the school, the deposition and other material collected through the U.S. legal system are now being prepared for onward submission to the Nigeria Supreme Court, where a final decision on the presidential election challenge would be made on or before December 6, 2023.
On Monday, DAILY GIST reported that the Chicago State University(CSU) released the academic records of President Bola Tinubu, following requests by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25th.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the poll, Atiku approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal but lost the legal battle to Tinubu.
Atiku has since proceeded to the Supreme Court in Nigeria to challenge Tinubu’s victory.
Over the weekend, the US district court for the northern district of Illinois ordered the Chicago CSU to release the academic records of Tinubu.
Its believed that Atiku is planning to transfer the evidences from Tinubu’s academic records to nail him at the Supreme Court in the ongoing election petition case.
Phrank Shaibu, Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communications said they have already been vindicated on the case
According to him, tbe Chicago State University ( CSU) documents released on Monday on President Bola Tinubu’s academic records have proven that the certificate Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was fake.
The PDP chieftain said that the PDP has finally been vindicated. He noted that they have proven that they have a conflicting record about Tinubu.
He said, “This is a new revelation given that he had claimed to have attended Government College, Ibadan, until some students of the school denied knowing him. But even more worrisome is the fact that Government College, Lagos, was established in 1974. So, did he attend the school in anticipation before it was founded in 1974? He must indeed be a miracle worker.
“What makes the entire incident laughable is that Festus Keyamo, one of Tinubu’s servile lackeys, claimed on live television during the electioneering that Tinubu never attended school but was rather homeschooled.
“Tinubu has also been claiming that he was born on March 29, 1952, and even celebrated his 70th birthday last year and held a colloquium in his honour. But the date of birth listed on his CSU transcript states that he was born on March 29, 1954.
“So, not only does Tinubu have two genders, but he also has two dates of birth. This man must be a celestial being or probably fell from planet Jupiter.”
Shaibu said the release of the documents had vindicated the late legal juggernaut, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), who first exposed the certificate scandal 21 years ago.
“Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s dream is coming to reality after 22 years. He first drew the world’s attention to the fraudulent activities of Bola Tinubu. However, some of Gani’s so-called disciples have compromised after being offered a bowl of porridge.
“Festus Keyamo, who sued the Lagos State House of Assembly for clearing Tinubu of certificate forgery, is now defending Tinubu. When will such hypocrisy end?”he added
READ FULL STATEMENT BY THE CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY:
Caleb Westberg, the registrar of Chicago State University said the school was bombarded daily with many enquiries about its former student, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Giving the oral deposition ordered by Judge Maldonado to support the documents on President Bola Tinubu given to Atiku Abubakar, Westberg said the school receives between five and 30 enquiries daily about Tinubu.
However, he said at no time did the school notify Tinubu about the flood of enquiries, ostensibly from Nigeria.
“We believe Bola Tinubu who attended CSU is the same person who is the president of Nigeria today”, Westberg said during the deposition done on Tuesday in the office of Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, at West Wacker Drive in Chicago.
Five other lawyers from the firm Dechert LLP joined in the deposition. President Tinubu was represented by Victor P.Henderson and Oluwole Afolabi, who joined the session by zoom from New York.
Michael Hayes appeared for Chicago State University.
Pressed further by the battery of lawyers representing Atiku on why he believes the person who is the president of Nigeria is the same person who attended CSU, Westberg said Bola Tinubu is an unusual name in the US.
He matched the Records in the file against the information provided by the student or on behalf of the student.
On the controversy over whether the student the school admitted in 1977 ffrom South West College was a man on woman, Westberg said Tinubu applied to the university as a male and a letter of admission was issued to a male.
On the certificates tendered in the documents given to Atiku, the registrar restated that the university only has Diplomas that students didn’t pick up in its possession.
“The university does not typically keep Diplomas.I have the Diploma that was made available to Mr. Enahoro-Ebah in our possession because Mr. Tinubu did not pick it up.
“I do not have the Diploma that was submitted to INEC in our possession because he had picked it up.’
“Why would Mr. Tinubu request a Diploma and not pick it up or ask that it be sent to him?”, one of Atiku’s lawyers asked.
Westberg replied: “You would have to ask him, that is Bola Tinubu”.
Here are other things Westberg deposed to: “I’m not aware of any instance where CSU had been requested to certify a document.Mr. Wole Afolabi who was acting for President Tinubu insisted that the documents must be certified. Mr. Wole Afolabi is President Tinubu’s lawyer. Mr. Afolabi and Mr. Orr communicated by email.
“I don’t recall seeing the emails. I don’t know if Jason Carter approved of the certification. Apart from Jason Carter I do not know anyone else who was involved in the process.
“I went into Mr. Tinubu’s student’s file and produced the documents to Mr. Orr. I didn’t know that the documents would be certified. I don’t get involved in legal matters.
“Mr. Tinubu requested that the documents be released to Mr. Afolabi for ‘legal proceedings’ The signature on the consent form is similar to the signature we have on record for Mr. Tinubu.
“All of the certified documents came from CSU’s files. Nothing was handed over to us by Mr. Afolabi except for the FERPA form. CSU had never certified documents for anyone before. It must have been made because there was more of a Nigerian thing.
“The documents were released in pursuance of a FERPA request. I believe Mr. Afolabi requested that the documents be certified. I’m not aware if the stamp affixed by Mr. Orr to the documents was an official document. It is not part of CSU practice.
“Mr. Orr later departed from CSU after these documents were certified.I don’t know if his departure was connected to the certification of the documents; but I don’t think it was.
“Mr. Tinubu’s counsel did not prepare any affidavit for me. He didn’t draft anything for me. My statement that Mr. Bola Tinubu graduated from CSU was based on the transcripts in our possession.
“I have never met Bola Tinubu. I have never seen him. He did not visit our campus. He does not donate money to the school.
“In the US, Diplomas are considered merely ceremonial documents. In some other countries, it may be considered more. In the US, more reliance is placed on transcripts and not on Diplomas.
“I did not rely on information from public records to come to the conclusion that President Bola Tinubu is the person who attended CSU. I am not aware that the FBI contacted CSU on whether Bola Tinubu attended CSU.
“Between 1979 and when I assumed duties, CSU must have had at least 6 Registrars. I never spoke to Ms. Davies. Some policies have changed over the years. When there is a replacement Diploma, it is done by outside vendors. I don’t know who created Exhibit # 6.
The institution decided that my name should not be typed on the ‘To whom it may concern’ letter because of the sheer volume of requests I was getting.
“Before CSU, I was at UC, Berkeley and UC, Irving. I’m sure people make mistakes in data entry from time to time. Before this lawsuit I didn’t know anyone called Bola.
“It was possible that someone assumes Bola to be a female and therefore marked the SouthWest Transcript as such.
“I am familiar with the affidavit filed by OLAJIDE Adeniji. I don’t recall his gender.I don’t know if Atiku Abubakar is male or female but I heard is a male. I can’t tell by his name.
“I checked the record and confirmed that OLAJIDE Adeniji and Bola Tinubu were at CSU at the same time. The person said he ran in a closely- contested race against Bola Tinubu for the leadership of the Accounting Student Union.
“I see that he said the same person he ran against is now the president of Nigeria. The Bola Tinubu who attended Southwest College took Accounting courses. The Bola Tinubu who attended CSU also took Accounting courses. I see the address indicated for Bola Tinubu. It’s not far from CSU. I looked at the whole record in making the determination that the Bola Tinubu who is the president of Nigeria today is the same person who attended CSU.
“The entries’1952’ and ‘1954’ could have been made in error. The person who attended Southwest College is the person who attended CSU. The courses taken by Bola Tinubu at Southwest and CSU are consistent.
“Right after the entry ‘F’, the SSN entered indicated in the Southwest transcript is the same as the one that was indicated in CSU records. That is one of the indications that we use to identify students. A Social Security is a unique identifier.
“I recognize Southwest College as a feeder school for CSU. Bola Tinubu graduated with Honours. It’s a GPA distinction. It is awarded to high performing students. Accounting is a rigorous Major. He graduated with Honours. Yes, certain students are more motivated than others.
“The students who are more motivated go on to accomplish greater things in life. I’ve seen that. As far as I know, he’s the president of Nigeria.
“There were materials in Mr. Tinubu’s records that show that he was a male. I see the application to CSU. Mr. Tinubu identified himself as a male. His letter of admission identified him as a male. It says: ‘Dear Mr. Tinubu’
“We know Mr. Tinubu’s Social Security number. It’s contained in his records.
“I see the entry on APC’s website wherein President Bola Tinubu was said to have been born in Lagos on March 29, 1952. I don’t have a copy of the Diploma that was submitted to INEC so I can’t comment on it.
“I am not aware of the fact that in the form that he submitted to INEC he claimed a different nationality or date of birth.
“Yes, our records show that he was born on March 29th. One has ‘1954’ while the other shows ‘1952’ From time to time, people do make mistakes when making such entries”.
