The Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, has strongly criticized the “corrupted interpretation of the facts in the disposition” released by the Chicago State University (CSU) regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a statement titled “Tinubu’s House of Forgeries,” Mr. Ibe emphasized that a careful reading of the deposition clearly reveals numerous instances of forgery and abuse of administrative due process in relation to Mr. Tinubu’s involvement with the CSU documents.
According to Mr. Ibe, “There have been several attempts to twist the facts of the matter, deliberately aiming to confuse the public. Some media aides to the President have openly ‘pushed back on the narrative,’ while certain media outlets, notably one, persistently slant their story to justify a corrupted interpretation of the disposition.”
Mr. Ibe stated, “The truth remains that Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, falsified a document he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore an affidavit under oath to support his forgery.”
In the deposition, the Registrar of CSU, Caleb Westberg, confirmed under oath that the university did not possess a genuine copy of the diploma issued to Tinubu in 1979. Furthermore, Mr. Westberg stated unequivocally that the university did not find any diploma issued to Tinubu in 1979.
Mr. Ibe questioned how a candidate could graduate from a university for which he was not qualified. Prior to his application to CSU, Tinubu allegedly submitted a pre-qualifying 1970 certificate from Government College Lagos. However, this presented a mystery as the school did not exist until 1974. The spokesperson also highlighted the presentation of a certificate belonging to a female candidate from another school in the United States, as well as a Cambridge Higher School Certificate from 1970—the same year Tinubu purportedly graduated from a secondary school in Nigeria.
Mr. Ibe emphasized that these recent discoveries at CSU were not the first instances of forgery and perjury surrounding Tinubu. He referred to Tinubu’s 1999 form CF001, where he allegedly fraudulently claimed to have attended St John’s Primary School Aroloya, Government College Ibadan, and Chicago University (distinct from Chicago State University).
Mr. Ibe concluded by stating that integrity and morality lay at the heart of the forgery scandal against President Tinubu. He called on the President to act honorably by resigning to save the country from imminent embarrassment, or at the very least, urged his supporters to refrain from spreading lies to confuse the public.
The spokesperson also raised concerns about Tinubu’s NYSC certificate, noting that it bore the name “Bola Adekunle Tinubu,” despite the CSU stating under oath that the middle name “Adekunle” was never used in any document in his file. This led to the suggestion of forgery, given that the names on NYSC certificates are typically the official names used by the candidate during their time at a tertiary institution.
As the scandal continues to unfold, Mr. Ibe expressed his disappointment in the alleged addition of the middle name “Adekunle” to Tinubu’s Wikipedia account by his media handlers, which he deemed another forgery.
Mr. Ibe concluded by asserting that there appears to be no limit to how President Tinubu and his spin doctors will employ one forgery to cover up another.
