PUNCH NEWS
As Chicago State University confirms that President Bola Tinubu graduated from the school, STEPHEN ANGBULU reviews the ongoing legal battle between the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February poll, Atiku Abubakar, and the former Lagos State governor
Chicago State University’s release of President Bola Tinubu’s academic records to the People Democratic Party presidential candidate in the February poll, Atiku Abubakar, has marked a milestone in the ongoing legal battle between the two astute politicians.
On Tuesday, October 3, 2023, CSU’s Registrar, Caleb Westberg, testified in court, confirming that the Bola Tinubu who attended Southwest College is the same person who attended and graduated from the 156-year-old institution in 1979 and also the same person sitting in the Aso Rock Villa.
When Westberg assumed his current role in November 2020, he probably had no hint that he would one day stand in court to affirm the scholarship of a student who graduated from CSU probably before he was born.
Nonetheless, his testimony was crucial because the then-student is a sitting President whose election is under serious legal contests
The registrar’s testimonies are contained in a deposition he made in the Office of Angela Liu, Dechert LLP, on 35 West Wacker Drive, Suite 3400, Chicago, IL 60601, United States.
Days earlier, Liu, a counsel to Atiku got an Illinois court to compel the CSU to release President Tinubu’s academic records to him.
Westberg said the admission letter the CSU issued to Tinubu showed that the student who schooled there from 1977 to 1979 was a male.
Michael Hayes represented the CSU as five other lawyers from Liu’s firm joined by Zoom, while Victor Henderson and Oluwole Afolabi appeared for Tinubu.
Abubakar’s hunt for Tinubu’s educational records may not be farfetched from events which unfolded at the start of the Fourth Republic when both men were elected as Vice President and Governor of Lagos State, respectively.
Nigeria’s checkered history has seen electoral disputes stretch to lengths where political opponents and concerned citizens seek to verify the educational backgrounds of public office holders.
The case of Salisu Buhari from 1999 is a compelling illustration that one may luckily strike gold when nosing through a public officer’s academic history…
