CSU record: BBC journalists who attempted to whitewash Tinubu lock their X handles as angry Nigerians descend on them

BBC journalists who concocted a misleading report in an attempt to whitewash President Bola Tinubu following the release of his records by Chicago State University—CSU, have locked their official X handles as thousands of angry Nigerians descend on them for attempting to turn the truth upside down.

A report by the African chapter of the British media on President Bola Tinubu’s certificate scandal, claimed there is no evidence pointing to the fact that he forged his records.

The BBC report, titled ‘Bola Tinubu diploma: No evidence Nigeria’s president forged college record’, was published on Wednesday and has caused serious reactions across the country and beyond.

Though, a counter report by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism—FIJ, revealed that the British media outlet erred in its report.

From the documents made available by CSU, FIJ found that the replacement certificate Tinubu presented to the Independent Electoral Commission—INEC did not emanate from the university.

FIJ came to the conclusion after it compared replacement certificates issued in the 1990s with the one Tinubu submitted to INEC ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Tinubu’s certificate had some missing features, including the year ‘1867’ which appeared on every other CSU sample. FIJ also found that a signature on the lower right of the certificate appeared legible in a position that was lower than where the year should have appeared, meaning the signature should have suffered a similar fate if poor photocopying really cropped the year out.

Of particular interest was the expression, ‘with honors’, which appeared on the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC. None of the 1990s samples provided by CSU showed those words underneath the course of study, and this suggests that Tinubu’s certificate, which was supposedly obtained within the same timeframe, did not emanate from the school.

In its report, the BBC highlighted the conclusion of “a fact-checking organisation” which claimed that Tinubu’s certificate was not forged. However, FIJ found that the conclusion was wrong.

The BBC relied on three different Tinubu certificates for its analysis:

The original one, from 1979, which he claimed in the past, was misplaced when he went into exile in the 1990s.

The second one, that he submitted to INEC – supposedly a replacement diploma from CSU (it is similar to diplomas issued by CSU in the 1990s).

Additionally, CSU holds another replacement diploma for Mr Tinubu that they said is probably from the early 2000s that he never collected.

Given the clarification in the above three points, FIJ asserted that it is clear that Tinubu only obtained a replacement certificate from the CSU in the 1990s. It added that the BBC confirmed this: “It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s”.

However, from the samples provided by CSU in its deposition, certificates issued in the 1990s did not include the expression ‘with honors’. The BBC also clearly stated in its report that “any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated”. This renders BBC’s verification of Tinubu’s 1990s certificate with one issued in the 2000s illogical.

Also, the BBC had claimed that CSU’s policy is to issue replacement certificates that match the current template, regardless of when the student graduated. However, this claim was contradicted by the fact that Tinubu’s certificate included a signature of the current President of CSU, who took office in 2018, which the fact-checking organisation said is impossible.

The organisation has it that until the CSU provides another certificate from the 1990s, which has ‘with honours’, there are only two reasonable explanations for Tinubu’s certificate. One is that it did not emanate from the CSU. Two, whoever created the controversial certificate in Tinubu’s possession copied the template of the 2000s without paying attention to timeframe variations. This, it said, is clear in one of the signatures on Tinubu’s certificate.

The signature on the right is that of Zaldwaynaka “Z”, the current President of CSU, who took office in 2018. A president who took office in 2018 could not have signed a certificate supposedly released in the 1990s.

More importantly, Westberg admitted in his deposition that the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC was not from CSU, which FIJ conclusively said added to render the report by BBC flawed.

Meanwhile, after FIJ bursted BBC for the misleading report, angry Nigerians on Tuesday, descended heavily on the journalists behind it.

The journalists identified as Fauziyya Tukur and Olaroke Alo were dragged and accused of collecting bribe from the powers that be to sway the truth.

When NewsBand visited the official X handles of journalists, it was completely locked.

See screenshots of it below:

Recall that President Bola Tinubu has  been in the eye of the storm after he was indicted for forgery.

His academic records which was released to his political opponent, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by Chicago State University—CSU after a serious legal face-off, showed that Tinubu who was admitted into the institution was a female and not a male.

Analysis of the document from South-West College which Tinubu used in gaining admission into Chicago State University, appeared to belong to a female.

Also, the Social Security Number on the CSU certificate he presented, was issued in Virginia in 1976 to a female.

The Social Security Number since then has been used by Bola A. Tinubu and Abimbola Adenike Tinubu, a medical doctor in Louisiana, United States.

Also, Nigerians are wondering if Abimbola Adenike Tinubu could be the real owner of the Cambridge GCE result in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which was part of the academic records for “Bola Tinubu” released by the Chicago State University—CSU.

To further authenticate these revelations, officials from Chicago State University during deposition, disowned the certificate Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission—INEC during the last controversial election.

The CSU officials made the denial during deposition under oath before Judge Nancy Maldonado of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

They did not only disown Tinubu’s forged certificate, also, the stamp and other items on the certificate were completely disowned. The officials pointedly denied knowing where the Nigerian leader got the certificate from.

The details denied by the officials also include the alleged clerical errors for date of birth, gender, social security number and name on the university’s certificate.

Other details in contention include his claim that he attended a secondary school that did not exist till 4 years after he supposedly graduated from the university.

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