Chicago State University (CSU) has officially confirmed that President Bola Tinubu attended the university and successfully graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree.
This confirmation was provided in a statement issued to CBS Broadcasting Inc., also known as CBS News, on Thursday.
However, CSU said that they are constrained by United States federal law from disclosing any further information about Tinubu’s academic record without consent or unless compelled by a court order.
The background to this confirmation stems from allegations made by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar. Atiku had challenged the authenticity of documents suggesting that Tinubu graduated from Chicago State in 1979, asserting that these documents were not original and should be grounds for nullifying Tinubu’s election victory.
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The certificate in question was issued in 1979 and bears the signature of university President Elnora Daniel. However, it’s worth noting that Daniel did not assume her role at CSU until 1998 and left about ten years later.
The former Vice President argued that submitting false records to the electoral body before the vote should nullify the election, Atiku had claims.
At a hearing in Chicago this week, Atiku’s lawyers had asked a federal judge to compel the CSU officials to turn over Tinubu’s academic documents and appear for depositions.
Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois did not rule on the request.
CSU’s lawyer, Michael Hayes, told Gilbert that the university would not be able to certify Tinubu’s diploma under oath, and furthermore, a CSU spokeswoman said the university could confirm the president graduated.
However, it could not authenticate the diploma because it was a ceremonial document and not part of a student’s official academic file.
Earlier this month, the Presidential Election Petition Court had thrown out Atiku’s claim against Tinubu’s February 25 election.
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But Atiku has continued to fight the president’s academic results in Chicago.
The CSU statement issued to CBS, however, clarified: “As an educational institution, we are sometimes asked to provide information related to student records.
“Federal law known as FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) protects the privacy of student records and limits what an institution can release.
“In August 2023, a request was made to the U.S. federal court for the university to provide information related to educational records concerning Bola Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, and a former CSU student.
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“The university has confirmed Tinubu attended CSU and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree. Federal law, however, prevents us from providing any further information without consent or unless allowed to do so via court order.
“CSU is confident in the veracity and integrity of our records regarding Tinubu’s completion of graduation requirements and degree certificate. The university is not a party to the Nigerian legal proceedings that spurred this request, and a U.S. federal judge will determine whether the university will provide further requested information.
“Our response to the request for Tinubu’s academic records has been entirely consistent with our practices, policies and federal law. We would respond in exactly the same manner for any request for any student information by a third party.”