President Bola Tinubu has implicated a clerk at Chicago State University as responsible for blatant irregularities that characterised a certificate the school reprinted in his name, according to new court filings.
The Nigerian president said the unnamed clerk
“unfortunately” made the errors as to the dates the school stated on his
recently-issued certificate and when he actually graduated, thereby creating
“the appearance of differences.”
Mr Tinubu’s statement was filed on August 23 by his counsel
as part of his argument before the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Judge Jeffrey Gilbert had given the
Nigerian politician until August 23 to explain why his academic records at CSU
should not be released to his political opponent Atiku Abubakar.
The Nigerian president said he was born on March 29, 1952,
although he had also, at different times, listed 1954 as his birth year in the
past. He also recently expunged his primary and secondary education from his
records after it was discovered that the schools he listed under oath in his
1999 run for Lagos governor did not exist anywhere in Nigeria. Mr Abubakar
believed the requested records would show which early and high papers Mr Tinubu
submitted to CSU before he was admitted to study accounting there.
Mr Abubakar had sued to obtain Mr Tinubu’s school records
under a U.S. statute that allows documents available in the U.S. to be
subpoenaed for use as evidence in a foreign court…
“Unfortunately, in responding to the illegal and invalid
subpoena, CSU made several errors,” Mr Tinubu’s attorneys said. “CSU issued a
new diploma for Bola A. Tinubu, but incorrectly wrote the date of graduation as
June 27, 1979.”
They also argued that the Nigerian court hearing the
election petitions had already concluded hearing on arguments, and a judgment
is now being anticipated. The court is expected to deliver judgment on or
before September 21.
Mr Abubakar’s legal team, led by Chicago-based attorney,
Angela Marie Liu, is expected to file a response
