A lawyer to President Bola Tinubu, Oluwole Afolabi on Friday revealed why there are discrepancies in the academic records of the President from the Chicago State University (CSU).
Afolabi during an interview with Premium Times spoke on why one of the documents had an identity of a female and other issues in the credentials.
Naija News recalls that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar had approached the institution for the academic records of President Tinubu.
Upon releasing the details, Atiku insisted that the certificate of the institution submitted by Tinubu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forged. 
Afolabi, however, stated that the President in no way has forged the certificate presented to the electoral body.
Speaking on the deposition in the US court, Afolabi said, “The deposition was a boon to the President. It cleared up a lot of misconceptions and mischaracterisations of events regarding the president’s academic qualifications. Firstly, it offered an opportunity for CSU to state loudly and clearly that the president attended and graduated (with an Honors Degree in Accounting) from CSU in 1979.
“Secondly, the false narrative that had been put out there by mischief-makers that the president had used the identity of a female to gain admission to CSU was also cleared up. The registrar of CSU was emphatic in maintaining that the transcript of the President from Southwest College was erroneously marked as belonging to a Female. The registrar said such errors are not unusual. The president applied to CSU as a male student and his letter of admission was addressed to ‘Mr. Tinubu’.”
Afolabi while clarifying the issue of two different dates of birth on Tinubu’s record said, “It must be noted that the date and month of birth for the two were the same – 3/29/1952 and 3/29/1954. The explanation was that it was human error. The president uses the 3/29/1952 birthday to this day. He does not use the birthday that could have shaved two years off his age.”
Speaking on the claims that CSU distanced itself from the documents submitted to INEC, Afolabi said, “At Page 41 of the condensed deposition transcript, Mr Westberg had this to say: ‘The student in question graduated from the University on June 22, 1979. We were not qualified to verify whether this document is authentic, given that it is not in our possession.
“Universities in the US issue diplomas without qualms – all that you need to do is pay the processing fee. Diplomas bear the year of graduation not minding the year the request was put in.
“Mr Westberg testified that CSU does not keep copies of applications for re-issuance of diplomas and it also does not keep copies of Diplomas that had been picked up by students.
“The school cannot speak on the authenticity of a document of which it does not have a copy.
“Furthermore, if you take a look at Exhibit 11 – Affidavit of Mr Westberg, there’s confirmation that the document was authentic.
“One can take it as one likes – ‘we can’t authenticate or it is authenticated.
“What the facts do not support is that the school disowned the validity of the certificate the President gave to INEC. It is nowhere stated that the school said that the document was forged.”
Afolabi while clarifying the issue of signature on the certificate said, “The registrar could not have known when the diploma was issued as he was not there and the school does not keep copies.
“Both diplomas were said to have been issued after 1979 but no one knew for sure when they were issued. They could only speculate as to time-frame.”
He affirmed that Tinubu’s certificate was not forged, stating, “Yes, the diploma was not forged. There is nothing in the record to back up such an allegation. He who alleges must prove. It behoves Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his lawyers to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the document was forged and they failed in that regard. Suspicion is not the same thing as proof beyond reasonable doubt.”
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