Tinubu’s university certificate not a forgery – aide

An official working for Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has denied accusations that Mr Tinubu presented a forged university diploma to the country’s electoral body.

During a hearing on Tuesday, an official from the Chicago State University (CSU) said Mr Tinubu graduated from the university in 1979.

However, the official added that the university could not verify the authenticity of the diploma that Mr Tinubu presented to Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) as the university does not keep copies of student diplomas.

He also testified that the signature, logo, and seal in the certificate Mr Tinubu presented to Inec and varied from those in the other certificates issued by the CSU in Mr Tinubu’s graduation year.

Atiku Abubakar, who ran against Mr Tinubu in Nigeria’s February presidential elections had petitioned a US court to order CSU to release Mr Tinubu’s academic records.

He intended to use the records to prove his case that Mr Tinubu’s election should be nullified as he allegedly presented forged university papers to Inec.

Temitope Ajayi, Mr Tinubu’s special assistant on media and publicity on Wednesday said that “the claim that President Tinubu submitted fake certificate to Inec does not make sense as Mr Tinubu already had the university certificate”.

He also said the replacement certificate Mr Tinubu presented to Inec was valid as the CSU official had confirmed that “replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors not the university”.

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