• US-based Nigerian professor, Farooq Kperogi, has again shared his thoughts on the certificate saga involving President Bola Tinubu
  • Prof. Kperogi said he is "not invested in any perspective" but will continue to write on "the obtainable version of the truth"
  • Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, had claimed Tinubu forged his academic certificate

Chicago, USA - Popular columnist, Farooq Kperogi, has shared what he calls “facts” about the storm over the authenticity of the credential President Bola Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Kperogi said contrary to claims by opposition elements, Tinubu did not forge his credentials with INEC.

CSU saga: 'Tinubu didn't forge', Kperogi

The US-based Nigerian professor earlier claimed certificates are not used as legal proof of graduation from any school in America. Now, he has written a fresh piece.

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He wrote in his column on Saturday, October 14:

“Here are 7 facts I've found so far after reading and rereading all the facts related to this issue:
  • Tinubu attended and graduated from Chicago State University in 1979, was issued a diploma (or a certificate, to use the expression that’s familiar to Nigerians), which he collected (I erred when I thought the registrar said he didn't; See number 3). Apparently, he lost the original diploma in 1979 and was issued a "replacement diploma dated 27 June 1979," according to the BBC.
  • In the 1990s, he applied for and got a replacement diploma from CSU. Ostensibly, because it looks different from his 1979 diploma (since diplomas bear the signatures of the current president and look like the diplomas issued that year), he got a note from the CSU registrar in 1999 affirming that he indeed graduated from the school in 1979.
  • He lost the original copy of the 1990s replacement diploma (but has a photocopy of it) and, in the 2000s, applied for yet another replacement diploma, which the university issued, but which he didn't collect. I mistook the registrar's reference to this bit during the deposition as him saying that Tinubu did not collecting his 1979 diploma. My apologies.
  • In 2022, Tinubu submitted a photocopy of the 1990s replacement diploma, along with the 1999 "To Whom It May Concern" note from the CSU Registrar, to INEC as the academic credential that qualifies him to run for president.
  • Opposition politicians saw it and said it wasn't similar to diplomas CSU issued in 1979. So, they said it's fake.
  • BBC's Disinformation Team fact-checked the claim and found that it's not fake. It appears fake only because it was reissued in 1998 and the university's logo at the bottom of the diploma was chopped off during photocopying. The BBC says every other detail in the diploma is similar to the diplomas CSU issued or reissued in 1998.
  • The registrar disavowed the photocopied INEC diploma during deposition because of the absence of the logo of the university at the bottom of the diploma, but even he hinted that it "was possibly 'cut off' when it was photocopied." So, it was actually a conditional disavowal.

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    In a piece of related news by Legit.ng, Kperogi said going by “available facts”, Atiku did not forge documents presented to INEC.

    Tinubu’s supporters, in their bid to get even with Atiku, dredged up the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate's post-secondary school name change and are attempting to pass it off as evidence of school certificate forgery against him.

    'Tinubu's CSU case affected Nigeria': Obi

    Amid the debates, Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate during the 2023 election, lamented how the controversy surrounding Tinubu's academic records at CSU allegedly tarnished the image of Nigeria.

    Obi at a press conference on Wednesday, October 11, said the controversies around President Tinubu's academic records at the CSU and other 'questionable identities' have tainted the image of the country.

    Source: Legit.ng

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