THE presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, will address Nigerians and other concerned parties regarding President Bola Tinubu’s academic records released by the Chicago State University (CSU) today, October 5.

A statement released on the press conference invitation reads, “This is to inform and invite you to the World Press Conference of Our Presidential Candidate, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, GCON, at the Yar’Adua Centre, Tomorrow, Thursday 5, October 2023, in the afternoon.

“The exact time will be communicated shortly. Please endeavour to attend. Thank You.”

It could be recalled that Atiku had successfully obtained the release of Tinubu’s education records from the CSU through a court subpoena against the disclosure by the President.

The PDP 2023 election presidential candidate requested the documents to back his allegation of forgery of CSU certificate against Tinubu.

The accusation of forgery was among the claims the presidential election court rejected during Atiku’s lawsuit challenging Tinubu’s election. 

Despite the court’s decision, Atiku persisted with his case in the US court and sought official documents supporting his allegations, which he most likely will incorporate into his appeal at the Supreme Court.

The disclosed documents, initially released on Monday, October 2 and further emphasized in a deposition on Tuesday, October 4, revealed a discrepancy concerning Tinubu’s 1979 CSU certificate. 

During the sworn testimony, the CSU Registrar also stated that he could not authenticate the certificate presented by Tinubu to INEC.

The registrar added, “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.”

But the registrar affirmed that Tinubu graduated from the school.

Meanwhile, the presidency has dismissed claims that the certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 elections was forged.

Reacting on Wednesday, October 4, Tinubu’s media aide, Temitope Ajayi, via his X handle, argued that CSU affirmed under oath that Tinubu attended and graduated from the institution and that the school does not handle replacements for lost certificates.

“In the deposition made by the Chicago State University, there was nowhere the University said the certificate presented to INEC by President Tinubu is fake. The University insisted under oath that President Tinubu graduated with honours, and even at that, replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors, not the University.

“The claim that President Tinubu submitted a fake certificate to INEC does not make sense. A man can not forge the academic records he possesses. You can only forge what you don’t have.”

Mustapha USMAN

Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M