We Don’t Have Copy of What Tinubu Submitted to INEC - Chicago State University

 

The Chicago State University (CSU) has in deposition it made on Tuesday said it doesn't have records of diploma certificate President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

 

This comes after Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election subpoenaed CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records for use in the Nigerian supreme court.

 

Abubakar is challenging the victory of Tinubu in the February 25 election and the affirmation of Tinubu by the petition tribunal as winner of the poll.

 

He had argued that there are discrepancies in the certificate Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which should have rendered him ineligible to contest the election.

 

According to TheCable, speaking on the certificate (also called diploma) presented to the INEC by Tinubu, Caleb Westberg, the university registrar and deponent/witness, said:

 

 

He also said when there is a replacement diploma, “it is done by outside vendors”.

 

Westberg said that 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”.

He said all of the certified documents came from CSU’s files.

 

“CSU had never certified documents for anyone before. It must have been made because it was more of a Nigerian thing,” he said.

 

 

Responding to another question, he said he went into Tinubu’s student’s file and produced the documents but did not know the documents would be certified.

 

“I don’t get involved in legal matters,” he said.

 

Westberg said it is not uncommon for mistakes to be made in data entries from time to time.

 

“Before CSU, I was at UC, Berkeley and UC, Irving. I’m sure people make mistakes in data entry from time to time,” he said.

 

The witness also said it is possible that vendors are responsible for the certificate Tinubu submitted to Nigeria’s electoral commission ahead of the vote.

 

“Some policies have changed over the years. When there is a replacement diploma, it is done by outside vendors,” he said.

 

On why Tinubu did not pick up his replacement diploma from the school, the witness said: “You would have to ask him. 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,” he said.

 

 

He said: “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.

Pressed on why he believes the person who is the president of Nigeria today is the same person who attended CSU, the witness 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,” he said.

 

 

There have been allegations that the Tinubu who gained admission into CSU was female.

 

On his gender, the CSU witness said: “Tinubu applied to the university as a male and a letter of admission was issued to a male.

“From time to time, people do make mistakes when making such entries."