Bola Tinubu Diploma: No proof Nigerian president tampered with college document

There isn’t any proof that the diploma that Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the nation’s electoral fee is faux, the BBC’s international disinformation crew has discovered.

Allegations that President Tinubu’s certificates have been falsified went viral on social media after the Chicago State College (CSU) launched his educational information final week.

We have checked out a few of the most generally circulated claims.

The discharge of the president’s educational papers is the end result of a criticism filed in August by one in every of his primary rivals in February’s presidential election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Occasion (PDP).

Mr. Abubakar hoped to see the winner disqualified after accusing him of getting falsified the CSU Bachelor of Science in Enterprise Administration diploma awarded in 1979 and which he had submitted to the electoral authority (Inec).

To acquire proof for his case in Nigeria, Mr Abubakar approached a US courtroom in August, asking it to pressure the CSU to launch Mr Tinubu’s educational information via a course of known as discovery, during which events alternate info, together with paperwork, earlier than a trial.

Mr Tinubu’s attorneys opposed the invention request, citing privateness considerations, however the US courtroom dominated it ought to go forward.

The paperwork requested by Mr. Abubakar have been:

In response to the primary request, CSU submitted seven diplomas protecting totally different disciplines with the scholars’ names redacted. In line with the college registrar, these diplomas had not been collected by the scholars.

In response to the second request, the CSU mentioned it couldn’t find the diploma it issued to Mr Tinubu in 1979 as a result of it didn’t keep copies of diplomas already obtained by college students.

In response to the third request, the CSU said that it had produced for Mr. Tinubu a substitute diploma dated June 27, 1979. It additionally issued diplomas awarded to different college students which bore a font, seal, signatures and wording much like these on Mr. Tinubu’s diplomas.

In response to the fourth request, CSU submitted further educational supplies initially attested and printed by Mr. Orr.

In accordance with the choose’s ruling, Mr. Abubakar’s lawyer, Angela Liu, questioned Caleb Westberg, the present CSU registrar, in a deposition final week.

The BBC was given entry to the transcript of the deposition by Mr Abubakar’s spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.

Some social media customers in Nigeria declare that the assertion and diplomas launched by the CSU verify that the diploma submitted to Inec by Mr Tinubu was faux. This declare was additionally repeated by one in every of Mr Abubakar’s attorneys, Kalu Kalu, at a press convention final week.

We discovered that there was no proof to help this declare.

The CSU issued a number of diplomas awarded between 1979 and 2003. We analyzed all of them.

There are three totally different {qualifications} for Mr. Tinubu that we confer with all through our evaluation:

The allegations on social media are primarily based on a comparability between the doc Mr Tinubu submitted to Inec and the 1979 diplomas printed by the CSU.

Throughout Mr Westberg’s proof, Mr Atiku’s lawyer targeted on the copy of the diploma given by President Tinubu to the Electoral Fee and steered that it didn’t resemble any of the diplomas issued by the CSU .

Nonetheless, whereas Mr. Westberg agreed with Ms. Liu that the diploma in query doesn’t resemble the 1979 samples, he mentioned that the certificates really resembles three of the diplomas that CSU issued to Ms. .Abubakar. Our evaluation confirms this.

It seems that the distinction within the diploma’s look is because of its reissue within the Nineteen Nineties.

Mr. Westberg mentioned CSU’s diploma mannequin has modified a number of instances over time. He mentioned any request for a brand new diploma would appear like the present mannequin at the moment, no matter when the scholar graduated.

So, if Mr Tinubu had revamped his diploma within the late Nineteen Nineties, what would have been awarded to him would resemble what was out there then.

Three of the diplomas relationship from the Nineteen Nineties offered by the CSU have been much like Mr Tinubu’s.

One in all them, which bears the date December 18, 1998, is equivalent (aside from the names, promotion and dates) to the diploma given by Mr. Tinubu to Inec.

Mr. Westberg additionally mentioned that CSU doesn’t keep grades when a graduate requests reissuance of a diploma and subsequently Mr. Tinubu’s request for a duplicate of the diploma was not recorded.

The copy he gave to the election fee had a part of the college brand lacking, which Mr. Westberg mentioned in his deposition might have been “minimize off” throughout photocopying.

We analyzed the diploma. It seems actually that its decrease half was not included through the photocopying course of.

The BBC has contacted Mr Tinubu’s crew for a duplicate of the diploma in query. They despatched what they mentioned was the one present copy of the diploma. It is a black and white photocopy equivalent to the one given to Inec.

One other declare, made by a fact-checking group in Nigeria, was that the diploma offered by Mr. Tinubu was not from CSU, as his levels didn’t embody the phrase “with distinction” beneath the diploma title .

However the BBC discovered that whereas this was not mirrored in different diplomas issued by the CSU, it was in Mr Tinubu’s diploma issued within the early 2000s, which was authenticated by Mr Westberg throughout his deposition .

It’s marked “with honors” – a match to the diploma with the identical particulars submitted by the president to Inec.

Mr. Westberg mentioned the college may authenticate this explicit diploma as a result of it was nonetheless in its possession because it had by no means been collected.

Not all college students graduate from faculty with honors. Mr Tinubu, as attested by the CSU in a number of courtroom paperwork seen by the BBC, graduated from the CSU with distinction.

The BBC contacted the CSU to ask about his {qualifications} and referred us to an announcement which learn partially: “We’re assured and have at all times been assured within the fact and integrity of our information referring to Tinubu’s attendance and achievement of the circumstances for acquiring the diploma.

One other allegation circulating on social media is that the one who attended CSU beneath the title Bola A Tinubu is a lady.

Mr. Tinubu attended Southwest Faculty (now often known as Richard J. Daley Faculty) earlier than transferring to CSU in 1976. In Southwest’s transcript, there’s an “F” (for ” feminine”) within the column the place the gender is indicated, resulting in claims that it was a lady who attended the college and Mr Tinubu “stole her id”. Mr. Atiku’s lawyer, Mr. Kalu, alluded to this at a press convention final week.

Nonetheless, in his proof, Mr Westberg burdened that there was no confusion over the gender of the individual attending CSU because it was a person named Bola A Tinubu. He mentioned the college used elements apart from title to authenticate the scholar’s id.

In line with him, the social safety quantity (SSN) on the Southwest Faculty transcript matches that on different paperwork during which the scholar’s gender is clearly listed as male.

Nonetheless, the launched paperwork elevate questions on Mr Tinubu’s date of beginning and the secondary college he attended.

One of many paperwork indicated that Mr. Tinubu attended Authorities Faculty, Lagos in 1970. Nonetheless, info out there on the college’s web site indicated that the college was solely based in 1974.

Aside from the gender distinction, the dates of beginning given in some printed paperwork differ from President Tinubu’s official date of beginning, which is March 29, 1952.

His CSU transcript has his birthdate as March 29, 1954. His undergraduate admissions software type has his birthdate as March 29, 1955.

Mr Atiku’s lawyer mentioned throughout Mr Westberg’s proof that on varieties submitted to Inec, Mr Tinubu gave his date of beginning as March 29, 1952.

Mr. Westberg, beneath cross-examination, responded that the discrepancies could possibly be resulting from human error.

We contacted Mr Tinubu’s crew for touch upon these discrepancies and a spokesperson as a substitute directed us to his social gathering, the All Progressives Congress. We then contacted Mr Tinubu’s presidential marketing campaign spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, who can also be a authorities minister. He did not decide our calls or reply to our texts and WhatsApp messages.

We additionally despatched inquiries to Mr. Abubakar’s crew. They did not reply.