Chicago State University (CSU) has denied issuing a replacement certificate to President Bola Tinubu in 1997.
This was clarified by CSU Registrar, Caleb Westberg.
Westberg attested under oath that the school did not award the June 22, 1979 certificate the Nigerian leader submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body, INEC on June 17, 2022.
The CSU registrar explicitly stated that Mr Tinubu did not apply for a replacement certificate, nor was he ever issued one.
Instead, he explained that the June 27, 1997 date was only a typographical error in Mr Tinubu’s replacement certificate which was issued to Nigerian lawyer Mike Enahoro-Ebah in an earlier subpoena filed in August 2022.
“That is correct” was Mr Westberg’s response when asked whether he meant to write “1979” instead of the “1997” date on the replacement certificate issued to Mr Enahoro-Ebah.
“I’ll state on the record as the author that is my typo,” the CSU registrar answered in his deposition late Tuesday as he admitted and took responsibility for the error.
But as of early Tuesday morning, there were reports claiming that Mr Tinubu had received the replacement diploma in 1997 rather than Mr Enahoro-Ebah. Furthermore, they erroneously claimed that CSU had authenticated the president’s diploma hours ahead of the scheduled deposition at 5:00 p.m. CDT, or 11:00 p.m. Nigerian time on Tuesday.
