Nigerians lay siege to CSU media handles, as Tinubu ‘79 Yearbook deleted from varsity’s system

Controversy over the decision by Management of the Chicago State University (CSU) to award a degree to now President Bola Tinubu in 1979 has taken a new twist with the institution blocking its Twitter (now X) social media handle from posts and comments.

This is also as it emerged, Tuesday, that the university’s LinkedIn and Facebook social media handles have also been blocked from new users following pressure from Nigerians who had besieged the accounts since last week seeking clarification from the school on its role in the scandal.

Meanwhile, searches conducted by Oracle Today newspaper further revealed that the school’s Yearbooks containing information on graduates of the institution have been tampered with as while that of 1978 and 1980 are still there on its website, the one of 1979 when President Tinubu allegedly graduated has been deleted from the data base prompting curiosity by Nigerians who then laid siege to the institution’s domain requesting explanation.

No official reasons have been provided by the CSU over its decision to lock out visitors to its social media handles, however, tones of messages from Nigerians to the school to come clean on its role in the scandal may have prompted the decision to lock out users.

“The #Tinubugate saga has taken a very interesting and rather sinister turn, as if it wasn’t already sinister enough, with 1979 graduates of @ChicagoState now the latest victims of a deep and long=running criminal conspiracy worthy of its very own @netflix crime series. It has all the ingredients. Drugs, fraud, politics, international dimensions, murder and cover ups.

“Elnora Daniel (Vice President of CSU), it would seem, has more questions to answer than just the issue of certificate forgery. The 1979 Yearbook of Chicago State University, which would normally contain the names and photographs of that year’s graduates has disappeared from the Ancestors.com website,” remarked Mr Babatunde Gbaadamosi, while reacting to the development, Monday.

Mr Gbadamosi further disclosed that ‘a search for B. Tinubu on the university website for 1979 turns up a Gloria B. Tinubu.

“Who is this woman, and where is she? The man who calls himself Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have far more skeletons in his cupboard than initially thought, and with the passage of time, and further digging into his past, it is becoming more and more obvious that he is probably the most unsuitable Nigerian alive to be President of Nigeria,” he said.

Similarly, another search on the school’s website provided a face and name ‘B. Thuvb’ which bore a photograph of a younger Tinubu. However, he was the only graduate with a misspelt name underneath his photograph.

“Chicago State University @ChicagoState has locked their Twitter account. They removed the 1979 yearbook from their archive. I wonder what they are hiding. Nigerians are camping on their page,” another Twitter user wrote.

It would be recalled that the embattled university had, last Thursday, responded to the application filed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, requesting the academic records of Tinubu, a former student of the institution.

The CSU, however, insisted it will only comply if the order to provide the academic records was from the court.

The school had initially refused to disclose the credentials of now President, Tinubu on account of protecting privacy of the student.

Atiku had approached a United States court seeking to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records.

Releasing its response, Thursday, to the ongoing case, CSU said it has agreed to release the documents if ordered by court in the United States.

In the response, CSU in affirming that Tinubu attended the institution in 1979, claimed that the documents Atiku requested from it ‘through documents subpoena and deposition subpoena are Tinubu’s ‘Private Educational Records.’

This is also as the CSU said it ‘struggles to understand’ how Tinubu’s  grades and students records from the 1970s, dates, signatories and certificates have any bearing on the 2023 General Elections.

The CSU further argued that since they are not familiar with the legal systems in Nigeria and other legal principles, Tinubu, who is familiar with the issues and directly involved, should himself advance his arguments and objections.

CSU also informed the court that they held a conference with Atiku lawyers who told them that documents cannot be tendered at the PEPT anymore, but that Atiku ‘might’ introduce it when the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The American school, therefore, begged the court to rule on the case only after scrutinizing the status of the PEPT and the possibility of any discovery from the documents in the PEPT.

Meanwhile, in Tinubu’s application seeking to stop the CSU response, the President, through his counsels, had argued that though Atiku’s application fulfil 1 of 3 jurisdictional issues. But it did not fulfil 2 others, including that; the discovery (of Educational documents) is not ‘for use’ in the pending electoral proceedings: Here, Tinubu argues that in the electoral petition before the PEPT, Atiku did not raise his Educational background in the initial petition (even though he tendered evidence, called witnesses and made arguments in his final written address to the effect).

And also that Atiku is not an ‘interested party’ in other proceedings: Here, Tinubu argues that Atiku is not a party to the Enahoro Case. Being that it was Enahoro who started the discovery of Tinubu’s educational records.

Tinubu argued that himself and Atiku are parties in an election suit and should be a reason not to grant his application. That the Supreme Court has cautioned about it, and also that Atiku cannot use the documents if given since evidence at the Tribunal closed since July 29, 2023. So there is ‘no indication’ that the Nigerian court will receive additional evidence.

 Finally, Tinubu argued that Atiku’s application is ‘unduly intrusive or contains burdensome requests’. That the numerous documents listed by Atiku are ‘beyond broad and are burdensome’ and the disposition subpoena is a fishing expedition and to satisfy curiosity.

Tinubu listed cases to support his arguments and concluded that the application should be denied since CSU have ‘clearly and conclusively’ established that ‘Bola A. Tinubu’ graduated from CSU in ‘June 1979’.

It would also be recalled that the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, had, penultimate Monday, ruled that it had jurisdiction in the case instituted by Atiku, to compel Chicago State University (CSU) to produce critical documents relating to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Atiku’s application was spurred by an earlier case in Nigeria precisely on November 9, 2022, several months before the Presidential elections, in which one Mr. Mike Enahoro-Ebah, described as a “Human Rights Defender and Public Interest Litigator” in Abuja, Nigeria, commenced proceedings against Mr. Tinubu by filing a “Direct Criminal Complaint” in the Chief Magistrate Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In his complaint, Mr. Enahoro-Ebah alleged that Mr. Tinubu submitted an “Affidavit of Personal Particulars” to INEC in June 2022 as part of a required filing to run for President that included a forged CSU diploma dated June 22, 1979  and other information that is inconsistent with the CSU documents.

According to court papers filed by Atiku in the US court dated August 2, 2023, to support the allegations, “Mr. Enahoro-Ebah stated that after Mr. Tinubu made his INEC filing, Mr. Enahoro-Ebah obtained a subpoena from the Circuit Court of Cook County, dated August 11, 2022, and served it on CSU. In response to the subpoena, CSU’s Registrar, Mr. Caleb Westberg, sent a letter dated September 22, 2022, to Mr. Enahoro-Ebah’s Chicago counsel, Mr. Matthew J. Kowals, advising Mr. Kowals that “[t]he enclosed documentation is all the records we have for Bola E. Tinubu.

“According to the complaint, the documents that accompanied Mr. Westberg’s letter included a CSU diploma issued to Mr. Tinubu on June 27, 1979. The June 27 diploma allegedly produced by CSU to Mr. Kowals, and the June 22 diploma allegedly submitted by Mr. Tinubu to INEC, are very different documents. In addition to the different dates, the documents have different seals, fonts, and language. The June 22 diploma has grammatical errors that the June 27 diploma does not have. They are also signed by different persons who are ostensibly officials of CSU. The June 22 diploma has three signatures, one of which purports to be the signature of Dr. Elnora Daniel as President of CSU. The other two signatures on the June 22 diploma are illegible.

“By contrast, the June 27 diploma only has two signatures. They purport to be the signatures of Dr. Daniel, again as the President of CSU, and Dr. Niva Lubin as the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees.

“In his complaint, Mr. Enahoro-Ebah asserts that the June 27 diploma produced by CSU to Mr. Kowals is authentic, and that the June 22 diploma submitted by Mr. Tinubu to INEC is a forgery. However, Applicant’s staff have recently conducted further research into the names of CSU officials with legible signatures on the two diplomas: Dr. Daniel (whose signature appears on both the June 22 and June 27 diplomas) and Dr. Lubin (whose signature appears only on the June 27 diploma). According to public records, Dr. Daniel and Dr. Lubin did not join CSU until the late 1990s—around two decades after CSU supposedly awarded the June 22 diploma and/or the June 27 diploma to Mr. Tinubu.

Applicant’s research therefore calls into question the authenticity of both the June 22 and the June 27 diplomas.

In his complaint, Mr. Enahoro-Ebah alleged the following additional discrepancies between the information provided by Mr. Tinubu to INEC and the documents produced by CSU to Mr. Enahoro-Ebah:

“According to documents produced by CSU, the “Bola Tinubu” who attended CSU was a U.S. citizen, while in the information provided to INEC, Mr. Tinubu states that he has always been solely a Nigerian citizen and has never acquired the citizenship of any other country.  According to the documents produced by CSU, the “Bola Tinubu” who attended CSU was born in 1954, while according to the information provided to the INEC, Mr. Tinubu was born in 1952.

“According to the documents produced by CSU, the “Bola Tinubu” who applied to CSU submitted a prior transcript from Southwest College that identified “Bola Tinubu” as “female.” According to the documents produced by CSU, the “Bola Tinubu” who attended CSU claimed that s/he had graduated from Government College, Lagos, in 1970, while in the information provided to INEC, Mr. Tinubu makes no mention of having attended Government College.

Pursuant to the above,  Atiku, by and through his counsel, applied to the Court for an order granting him leave to compel CSU to release and verify the authenticity of documents purportedly issued to Tinubu by the university.

Going by available court papers, the Court established that it has jurisdiction over this matter in accordance with US laws which “authorizes any “interested person” to request that a United States District Court order the discovery of documents and testimony for use in a foreign proceeding from persons that “reside[] or [are] found” within its District.”

The court said Atiku has satisfied all statutory requirements as he is an “interested person”; and the respondent, CSU, is a public university established and existing under the laws of Illinois, with its principal campus and offices in Chicago.

Having met all requirements, the court ruled that it will not hesitate to grant the prayers of Atiku.

Meanwhile, Nigerians who thronged the social media handles of CSU are demanding an explanation from the school on its role in the scandal, even as some accused it of ‘selling’ its degrees.

Reacting, former Special Adviser to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, while reacting to the development, Tuesday via his Twitter handle (@BashirAhmaad) condemned the ‘Harassing’ of the American school  by Nigerians, which he described as ‘counterproductive and harmful.’

“Harassing a respected institution to the point where they lock up their Twitter/X account is counterproductive and harmful, it will never be an achievement. Peter Obi and his supporters should know that it is important to express opinions respectfully and engage in meaningful conversations rather than resorting to tactics that stifle discourse,” Ahmad said.

Meanwhile, other Nigerians have also weighed in on the controversy, as captured by Oracle Today newspaper below.

Andy (@Andy21778811) wrote:

They have struck a mouth watering deal and ready to do anything in their power to protect it but whatsoever goes up must come down

da_bossman (@aijusgottabe) wrote:

I seriously can’t understand how much of an asset they must think he is to them that these people are doing everything they can to first put him in the seat and then to keep him there. It’s like his poor credentials are our only option

Sheikh of Light (@aquaspeca) wrote:

A reputation they took decades to build just went down d drain cos of corruption. And to think the Internet never forgets. What’s dat adage about a good name again?

Dr. Antigha Cobham (@cobymourinho) wrote:

Chicago State University are not worth their onion

Dekaz Colourz (@MistaDee_) wrote:

This is somehow helping the Tinubu Chicago case. Tinubu’s reps say that the court shouldn’t allow the university to release his documents because it will be used to tarnish his image

Akaninyene Macauley (@AKANINYENEMACAU) wrote:

What a time to be alive!

Nicky (@nickluv90) wrote:·

What drug money cannot do does not exist