CSU finally releases Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku

The records were released following a request by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who contested against Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

The US district court for the northern district of Illinois granted Atiku's requests over the weekend.

Atiku had requested the documents from the university to support the allegation that Tinubu forged his academic certificate with the hope that if the allegation is successfully proven, Tinubu’s election would be overturned on forgery grounds. 

Although Tinubu had previously claimed to have lost the original certificate the university issued him, he is said to have requested a replacement for the lost certificate in 1997, which he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 elections.

To confirm the veracity of this claim, Atiku, in his requests asked the institution to produce a copy of the certificates awarded to students in 1997.

Other documents Atiku requested include Tinubu’s admission and acceptance records at CSU, his dates of attendance, degrees, awards and honours received at the institution.

However, on Monday, October 2, 2023, the university produced three out of the four sets of documents Atiku’s legal team requested.

The documents contained Tinubu’s admission records, and a letter confirming his attendance at the university from August 1977 and June 1979.

The letter stated that Tinubu majored in accounting and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Honours on 22 June 1979.

In response to Atiku's third request regarding alleged discrepancies in Tinubu's certificate(s), the university said, “The documents responsive to this request which CSU, after diligent search, has been able to locate are produced herewith and Bates labelled CSU 0008 through CSU 0010.

“The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons.

“CSU is also producing, Bates labelled as CSU 0011 and CSU 0012, diplomas prepared for other CSU students (with their names redacted for privacy) which match the format of the Tinubu replacement diploma dated June 27, 1997.”

Before the release of the documents, Tinubu's legal team had unsuccessfully tried to block Atiku from accessing his academic records at the Chicago State University after the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered institution to release Tinubu's credentials to his political opponent.

The President at some point pleaded with a United States District Judge, Nancy Maldonado to order the university to limit the privilege information requested by Atiku's legal team to only his certificate.

Tinubu argued that Atiku's interest in his educational records constitutes an intrusion of his privacy.

But Maldonado ruled in favour of Atiku, saying the former VP's interests in the credentials outweighed Tinubu's privacy interest.