In response to recent allegations that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria submitted forged academic credentials to the country’s electoral commission, an investigation by the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team has found no concrete evidence of forgery.

The controversy surrounding President Tinubu’s educational background gained traction on social media after Chicago State University (CSU) released his academic records last week. These allegations, however, have been scrutinized and examined closely.

This development stems from a legal case initiated in August by one of President Tinubu’s political rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who is seeking to disqualify him from the forthcoming presidential election in February. Atiku Abubakar accused President Tinubu of presenting a fraudulent CSU diploma in Business Administration awarded in 1979 to the electoral authority (Inec).

To gather evidence for his case in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar turned to a U.S. court, requesting the release of President Tinubu’s academic records through a legal process known as discovery, which involves the exchange of information and documents between parties prior to a trial.

Although President Tinubu’s legal team initially opposed the discovery application citing privacy concerns, the U.S. court ultimately allowed the process to proceed. Atiku Abubakar’s requests included:

1. A copy of any CSU diploma issued in 1979.
2. A copy of the diploma specifically awarded to Mr. Tinubu in 1979 by CSU.
3. Copies of diplomas with similar font, seal, signatures, and wording awarded to other students by CSU in 1979.
4. Documents from CSU certified by Jamar Orr, a former staff member of CSU, in the 12 months starting from August 1, 2022.

The responses from CSU were as follows:

1. In response to request one, CSU provided seven diplomas covering various disciplines with students’ names redacted, as these diplomas had not been collected by the respective students.
2. In response to request two, CSU explained that they were unable to locate the specific diploma issued to Mr. Tinubu in 1979, as they do not retain copies of diplomas once collected by students.
3. In response to request three, CSU confirmed that they had issued a replacement diploma to Mr. Tinubu, dated June 27, 1979. They also disclosed diplomas awarded to other students with similar font, seal, signatures, and wording as Mr. Tinubu’s.
4. In response to request four, CSU provided additional academic documents initially attested to and released by Mr. Orr, who was a staff member at CSU.