CSU: Atiku’s aide accuses Tinubu’s men of using forgery to cover forgery

Paul Ibe, the media adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has faulted a "corrupted interpretation of the facts in the disposition" released by the Chicago State University (CSU) against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Ibe, in a statement released on Sunday, October 8, titled "Tinubu’s house of forgeries", alleged that anyone who has taken time to do a thorough reading of the deposition will come to the unambiguous conclusion that the footprints of Tinubu’s odyssey as far as the CSU documents are concerned is filled with profound forgeries and abuse of administrative due process.

The statement said: "Since Tuesday last week, when the deposition regarding President Bola Tinubu’s educational qualifications came to the fore in the United States, there have been several attempts to twist the facts of the matter, which deliberately aim to confuse the mind of the public concerning the matter.

"Some media aides to the president have come out openly to ‘push back on the narrative’, while some media houses, especially one, have persistently slanted their story to justify a corrupted interpretation of the facts in the disposition."

Ibe maintained that President Tinubu had falsified his academic credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore an affidavit under oath to back up his alleged forgery in the build-up to the election.

He stated that on page 26 of the deposition, the Registrar of the Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, under oath, was asked a simple question saying that:

“CSU has determined that it does not have a true and correct copy of the diploma issued to Bola Tinubu is 1979, correct?

“To which the Registrar responded, “that’s correct.” Also, Ibe said on page 27, a similar question was put to Mr. Westberg: “So, CSU, after going through every diploma, was unable to find an authentic copy of any diploma that CSU issued to Tinubu in 1979. Is that correct?”

The CSU Registrar, in his response, said: “We did not find any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Mr. Tinubu.” And coming straight to the specific issue of whether the CSU is aware of or in possession of the diploma that Tinubu submitted to INEC, to which Mr. Westberg said: “Correct, we are not aware of it.”

Ibe alleged that President Tinubu’s supporters and spin doctors would want to force the narrative of, at least, “Tinubu graduated from the CSU down our throat, even when the narrative has no foothold in logic.

Ibe said long before last week's CSU discovery, Tinubu had a history of forgery and perjury.

He said: "In his form CF001 he filed ahead of his governorship election in 1999, Tinubu had claimed albeit fraudulently that he attended St John's Primary School Aroloya, Government College Ibadan and Chicago University as different from Chicago State University.

"The late lawyer and human rights icon Gani Fawehinmi would have succeeded in bursting him, but for the immunity he enjoyed as Governor of Lagos State."