At a high-profile People’s Democratic Party (PDP) meeting in northern Nigeria on August 30, 2025, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido launched a fiery assault on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of identity fraud, forged academic credentials, and links to international drug investigations.
Speaking in Hausa to a crowd of party supporters, Lamido stated:
“Today, I will speak about an important issue.”
In a speech recorded on video and shared widely across social media platforms, Lamido questioned Tinubu’s entire identity:
“Nobody knows Tinubu’s history. Nobody knows his parents, his siblings, his relatives, or even his classmates. The only history known about him involves drug-related crimes investigated by the FBI and CIA.”
Lamido referenced the widely publicized 1993 case in the United States where Tinubu forfeited over $460,000 due to alleged connections with narcotics-related financial transactions. Although Tinubu was not criminally convicted, U.S. court records in the Northern District of Illinois linked him to drug-related probes, prompting years of controversy.
He also alleged that the FBI had previously attempted to release Tinubu’s full case file, but the process was blocked by what Lamido termed “legal and diplomatic interference.” His comments echo growing demands from civil society groups for full disclosure regarding Tinubu’s legal history in the United States.
Further stoking the controversy, Lamido revived the Chicago State University certificate scandal, saying:
“Even the certificate he submitted to INEC (Nigeria’s electoral commission) was fake. Chicago State University disowned parts of the documents Tinubu claimed to have gotten from them. So what do we know about this man, really?”
Between 2023 and 2024, Chicago State University confirmed Tinubu’s attendance but stated that the certificate he submitted to INEC did not match their issued records—raising alarms about potential forgery.
Lamido warned that the lack of clarity surrounding Tinubu’s personal and professional background poses a serious threat to Nigeria’s integrity:
“We don’t know his origin. We don’t know his family’s origin. We know nothing about him except what is connected to crime and deceit. This is why Nigeria is in its current state.”
He ended his speech with a solemn call for national reflection and truth-seeking:
“We must think about this. We must seek the truth. May God help us all.”
NN News Media recalls that, under pressure from U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the FBI acknowledged possession of documents relating to Bola Tinubu and expressed willingness to release them. However, the complete file remains under legal review due to diplomatic considerations.
