A lawyer representing former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, Kalu Kalu, who was involved in the lawsuit brought against President Bola Tinubu in the United States, has made some discoveries.
Kalu said one of the documents given by Chicago State University (CSU) showed that Tinubu reportedly fabricated the certificate of a black American in response to inquiries at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
Due to President Bola Tinubu’s academic standing at Chicago State University (CSU), Atiku had initiated a lawsuit against him.
Tinubu attempted to stop the release of the documents by claiming that it was an invasion of his privacy, but the court rejected his request.
The documents were then obtained by Atiku’s attorneys on Monday, and CSU Registrar Caleb Westberg gave an oral deposition.
A deposition is the process of recording an individual’s sworn, out-of-court spoken testimony. This testimony could be put down as a transcript to be used in court or for discovery.
Speaking in Abuja, Kalu said, “On the certificate issued or released by Chicago State University to the lawyers of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. These are the documents; One, that Bola Ahmed Tinubu forged the certificate he presented to INEC.
“Two, that the qualified certificate from Southwest College to Chicago State University bears a female. That means that document does not belong to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Three, the Chicago State University admission application form has a claim that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended Government College Lagos and graduated in 1970, when indeed the school got established in 1974. The same document has it that the owner of that document is a Black American and the document Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied having dual citizenship which means it doesn’t not belong to him.”
Meanwhile, the presidency has dismissed the claim that the certificate Tinubu presented to INEC was forged.
President Tinubu’s media aide, Temitope Ajayi, issued a statement on Wednesday to clear the air on the controversy trailing CSU.
“We should be clear. In the deposition made by the Chicago State University, there was nowhere the University said the certificate presented to INEC by President Tinubu is fake.
“The University insisted under oath that President Tinubu graduated with honours and even at that, replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors not the University.
“The claim that President Tinubu submitted fake certificate to INEC does not make sense. A man can not forge the academic records he possesses. You can only forge what you don’t have.”