Abuja - Mediaage NG News - A Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on Media, Temitope Ajayi on Wednesday, denied accusations leveled against President Bola Tinubu of certificate forgery.
In a hearing last Tuesday, an official from the Chicago State University (CSU) said Mr Tinubu graduated from the university in 1979.
However, he added that the university could not verify the authenticity of the diploma that Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as it does not keep copies of student diplomas.
He also testified that the signature, logo, and seal in the certificate Mr Tinubu presented to INEC varied from those in the other certificates issued by the CSU in Mr Tinubu’s graduation year.
Atiku Abubakar, who contested the president poll last February, under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had petitioned a US court to order CSU to release Mr Tinubu’s academic records.
He intended to use the records to prove his case that Mr Tinubu’s election should be nullified as he allegedly presented forged university papers to Inec.
“The claim that President Tinubu submitted fake certificate to Inec does not make sense” as Mr Tinubu already had the university certificate”, Temitope Ajayi said.
He also said the replacement certificate Mr Tinubu presented to Inec was valid as the CSU official had confirmed that “replacements for lost certificates are done by vendors not the university”.
