Latest report on the academic record of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu released by Chicago State University indicate that it was not forged after all, according to findings from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Global Disinformation Team.
Persecond News had earlier reported that following a subpoena by a U.S. Court, the Chicago State University (CSU), Illinois, had released the academic records of Tinubu.
It also confirmed that student Tinubu graduated from the school in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
The BBC findings, sourced by Persecondnews on Wednesday, revealed that President Tinubu actually graduated from CSU with honours.
CSU, responding to the BBC Global Disinformation Team’s question concerning the authenticity of Tinubu’s diploma partly reads: “We are confident and always have been in the veracity and integrity of our records regarding Tinubu’s attendance and completion of graduation requirements”.
According to the report published on Wednesday by the British News outlets, it also clarified the allegations making the rounds concerning Tinubu’s gender.
In Southwest’s transcript, there is an “F” (for “female”) in the column where gender is indicated, leading to claims that it was a woman who attended the school and that Mr Tinubu “stole her identity”.
Mr Atiku’s lawyer, Mr Kalu, had alluded to this at a press conference last week.
The report reads: “However, in his deposition, Mr Westberg, CSU’s current Registrar, stressed that there was no confusion about the gender of the person who attended CSU as he was a male named, Bola A Tinubu. He said the university used other factors other than the name to authenticate the student’s identity.
“According to him, the Social Security Number (SSN) in the transcript from Southwest College matches what it has in other documents in which the student’s gender is clearly marked as male.”
Concerning the disparity between the document Mr Tinubu submitted to INEC and the 1979 diplomas released by CSU, he said: “It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s.
“Mr Westberg said the template of CSU’s diploma has changed several times over the years. He said any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated.
“As such, if Mr Tinubu had reordered his diploma in the late 1990s, what he would have been given would look like what was obtainable then.
“The copy he gave to the election commission had part of the university logo missing, which Mr Westberg said in his deposition was possibly “cut off” when it was photocopied.
“We analysed the diploma. It appears in fact that its bottom part was not included during the photocopy process.”
Following the release of Tinubu’s academic records, opposition party leaders, including People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flag bearer in the February 25 poll, Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi, who came distant third have tagged the academic records as “fake”.
Atiku had requested the release of President Tinubu’s certificate from CSU on the suspicion that the certificate the former Lagos State governor submitted to INEC may not be authentic.
He said his quest for the authenticity of Tinubu’s certificate “is a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, and accountability in our public affairs.”
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