According to recent court documents revealed by Peoples Gazette, President Bola Tinubu has alleged that a clerk at Chicago State University is responsible for the significant irregularities found in a certificate that was reissued in his name.

The president stated that discrepancies in dates, which created differences between the certificate and his actual graduation date, were a result of errors made by the unnamed clerk.

This information was included in a statement filed on August 23 by Mr. Tinubu’s legal counsel as part of his defense before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The court had granted Nigerian politician Mr. Tinubu until August 23 to provide an explanation as to why his academic records from CSU should not be disclosed to his political adversary, Atiku Abubakar.

Earlier this month, Mr. Abubakar sought court approval to subpoena Mr. Tinubu’s records housed at CSU. He believed that these documents would help to resolve notable discrepancies in Mr. Tinubu’s history.

This includes information available to the public, indicating that CSU admitted a female student with the name Bola Tinubu, born on March 29, 1954, during the 1970s.

The Nigerian president, while asserting he was born on March 29, 1952, has previously stated his birth year as 1954 on different occasions. Notably, he recently removed his primary and secondary education details from his records.

This decision followed the revelation that the schools he had sworn under oath to have attended during his 1999 gubernatorial run in Lagos did not exist within Nigeria.

In light of these circumstances, Mr. Abubakar sought access to records that could clarify the educational path of Mr. Tinubu.

This legal action was taken under a U.S. statute that permits the subpoena of documents within the U.S. for use as evidence in foreign courts.

The requested records are expected to shed light on the academic records Mr. Tinubu submitted to CSU as part of his admission to study accounting there.

Mr. Abubakar initiated a lawsuit to secure access to Mr. Tinubu’s school records using a U.S. statute that permits the subpoenaing of documents in the U.S. for foreign court use.

Mr. Abubakar’s argument stemmed from the notion that Mr. Tinubu had made inconsistent statements both in Nigeria and at CSU.

Notably, in response to a prior subpoena, CSU had furnished documents that contradicted Mr. Tinubu’s sworn statements in Nigeria.

Mr. Tinubu’s legal team, headed by Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, contended that the August 2022 subpoena, which had been issued at the behest of Nigerian lawyer Mike Enahoro-Ebah, was deemed “illegal.”

This stance was based on the argument that there were no valid justifications for the requested documents, particularly given the considerations of education privacy rights.

Nevertheless, Mr. Tinubu’s lawyers acknowledged that the documents did originate from CSU. However, they stated that an unidentified clerk had inadvertently entered an incorrect graduation date.

“Unfortunately, in responding to the illegal and invalid subpoena, CSU made several errors,” Mr Tinubu’s attorneys said. “CSU issued a new diploma for Bola A. Tinubu, but incorrectly wrote the date of graduation as June 27, 1979.”

Additionally, the legal team pointed out that alterations in authorized signatories and logos by the school, coupled with other irregularities such as variations in the fonts used on the certificate, collectively contributed to the perception of impropriety.

The lawyer said “The correct date was June 22, 1979, but that scrivener’s error – along with a change in the CSU logo, the font on the diploma, and leadership at CSU who signed the diploma created the appearance of differences between an earlier issued diploma and the one issued in response to the 2022 subpoena.”

Mr Abubakar said he filed the suit because he wanted to get the school to certify all documents relating to Mr Tinubu, some of which had been filed by the Nigerian president’s lawyers in Nigerian court as part of the ongoing election petitions proceeding.

But Mr Tinubu argued further that Mr Abubakar should be requesting the documents because Mr Tinubu’s academic records were not part of the initial litigation over the Nigerian elections.

They said the opposition leader’s argument had been focused entirely on cheating and other irregularities around the conduct of the election.

The legal team also asserted that the Nigerian court responsible for election petitions had already completed hearings on arguments, with a judgment anticipated soon.

The court is obligated to deliver a verdict by September 21, in accordance with Nigerian electoral law, which dictates that a petition’s conclusion must occur within 180 days after the election.

The presidential election took place on February 25, and Mr. Tinubu assumed the presidency on May 29.

Mr. Tinubu’s stance seemed to align with the CSU’s perspective regarding the lawsuit.

The university authorities had indicated that they would defer their compliance decision to their former student, Mr. Tinubu, on this matter.

Chicago-based attorney Angela Marie Liu, heading Mr. Abubakar’s legal team, is anticipated to submit a response to Mr. Tinubu’s assertion that the documents should not be pursued.

Mr. Tinubu’s argument is based on the premise that these documents were not involved in the Nigerian proceedings and would be considered inadmissible due to the current phase of the case.