Tinubu’s Chicago Certificate: Punch Lied, Farooq Kperogi Goofed

Tinubu

 When Punch Newspaper wrote that it had confirmed that the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended the Chicago State University and that it got the confirmation from the university, it was obvious to discernable observers that the report was a deliberate act to obfuscate the fact and deceive the public.

Tinubu attending Chicago State University has never been the issue in contention. The issue that had cast shadow on his integrity was what he filled in the INEC form F001 he submitted to the electoral body as his academic qualifications in 1999 which include the claim that he attended the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. While it is not an Ivy League University it is closer to it and prestigious which could have been the reason Tinubu claimed to have attended it instead of Chicago State University. The Ivy League is an athletic conference consisting of Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania. Since their founding in 1954, the Ivies have also gained prominence for academic and research excellence. On the other hand Chicago State University is a Predominantly Black, public university in Chicago, Illinois that is not highly regarded.

It was the claims as filled in the INEC form that he attended, St. Paul’s School Aroloya, Lagos for his primary education, which allegedly does not exist; University of Chicago; Government College, Ibadan between 1965 and 1968, which the authorities and Old Boys Association of Government College, Ibadan debunked as false that made late legal luminary Chief Gani Fawehinmi to head to court in 1999 to compel Tinubu to tender the certificates he claimed to possess.

People should go and check the allegations that Gani of blessed memory levelled against Tinubu before the courts, the allegations did not include CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY.

So why did Punch present their story as if Tinubu attending Chicago State University was the issue in contention in the courts of competent jurisdiction or court of public opinion? Punch was apparently counting on the collective amnesia of Nigerians for which they are notorious for. They were sure that Nigerians (thankfully not all) have forgotten that it was University of Chicago and not Chicago State University that Jagaban claimed to have obtained its certificate. If not for the information here, many have concluded that the Chicago University cloud hanging over the head of the presidential aspirant had been cleared. The cloud has not cleared. It has only gotten muddled artificially through cloud seeding, to stop the rain from falling.

Punch in its report noted that “human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), had also questioned Tinubu’s credentials and sued the Nigeria Police Force for failing to investigate him,” but deliberately hid from their readers the fact that what Gani questioned was Tinubu’s claim that he attended University of Chicago and not Chicago State University.

In Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police Lagos State Nigeria Police Force (2000), which was filed to compel the police to investigate certificate forgery allegations against Tinubu, Gani never questioned Tinubu’s attendance of Chicago State University, so why make a drama out of it? Gani could not make headway because of Tinubu’s immunity as serving governor.

However in 2013 there was effort to resurrect the matter. Dr. Dominic Adegbola sought to reopen the suit initially instituted by the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi in 1999. Adegbola had sought for an order compelling the IGP to commence investigation into the alleged case of certificate forgery. The application failed on technicality and not on the substance of the case.

Dismissing the application, the judge held that, by Order 34, Rule 4 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, the applicant failed to satisfy the mandatory requirements of the law.

Justice Saidu also held that such application should have been filed before the court within three months when the alleged fraudulent act was detected. According to the judge, since the application was not brought within the stipulated time, as mandated by the rules of court, it was bound to “hit the rocks”.

Citing some Supreme Court decisions, Saidu held that the applicant went to sleep since 2007 when the ‘toga of immunity’ could no longer shield Tinubu and suddenly woke up now that the matter is statute barred.

Dr Adegbola complaint was in respect of the contents of form F001 of the Independent National Electoral Commission, concerning certificates allegedly sworn to by Tinubu, during the election that won him the governorship ticket.

In a 15-paragraph, verifying affidavit, the Applicant deposed that Tinubu claimed to have attended St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, which never existed.

He also averred that Tinubu allegedly claimed to have attended Government College, Ibadan between 1965 and 1968, a claim which the authorities and Old Boys Association of Government College, Ibadan debunked as false.

Other areas of complaint by the applicant included the alleged claim of Tinubu in the INEC form that he attended Richard Daley College, Chicago, between 1969 and 1971, which he also alleged was false.

Adegbola also averred that the claim of Tinubu that he attended the University of Chicago in the US between 1972 and 1976 and obtained a B.Sc degree in Economics from the same University, was misleading. Those were the issues in contention in 1999 which Gani sought clarification from the court and not about Tinubu attending Chicago State University.

Unfortunately, respected columnist Prof Farooq A Kperogi in a piece titled, “Clarity On Tinubu’s Age and Postsecondary Education,” bought the hogwash sold to Nigerians and others by Punch. Kperogi should have done a little research on the issues at stake.

Tinubu should permanently clear the doubts by tendering the necessary certificates. The matter of attending University of Chicago, St. Paul’s School Aroloya and Government College Ibadan as well as Richard Daley College Chicago needed clarification by these schools. And he has to come clean in all the institutions he claimed to have attended. He could still be president without any attempt to clear his name, after all the country he wants to lead had already sold its soul to Mammon.

Coming clean on the allegations is not a huge demand from a person seeking to rule over 200million people in a country that is one of the most corrupt countries in the world and second most corrupt country in West Africa.

This clarification may not change the minds of those who support Tinubu’s presidential bid. It is not the intention. It is to ensure that the public makes their choices in 2023 based on transparent information.