President Tinubu’s Lawyer Explains ‘Female’ In Controversial Documents

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Against the backdrop of raging controversies trailing the now-released educational records of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his lawyer, Wole Afolabi, says there is nothing to worry about that the certificate indicates “F” meant for a female.

Blaming an administrative mixup at Chicago State University (CSU) as the reason, Afolabi, who spoke on Channels TV programme,  Politics Today, said; “The transcript that was provided by Southwest College indicated F. It was clear. All of the other particulars did match the information of President Bola Tinubu.

“Now, the registrar was interviewed on why the discrepancies. He said the person applying for the school ticked the box of a male, not a female and when the admission letter was issued it was issued to Mr Tinubu. When the question was put to Dr West Brown, he said it is not unusual for universities to mix up. He (West Brown) has been to several universities. It is possible.”

The lawyer, who also addressed the issue of discrepancies in the signatures on the certificate, said that certificates were not issued at the time of graduation until one applied for them, adding that the person who issued the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC might not have been in the university in 1979.

However, responding to the President’s lawyer’s position, former spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 25 presidential election, Segun Sowunmi, said not being sure if Tinubu attended Chicago State University informed the decision to approach the United States (US) court to access his educational records.

According to Sowunmi; “We have it on record that they are running left and right and cannot own the certificate which says he is female. There is a security number on that certificate linked to a female name. How do we know if he attended the school?”

Atiku, who is challenging Tinibu’s victory in the election, had filed the case at the District Court, Northern Illinois in the United States which recently ordered the Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic records to aid his appeal at the Supreme Court against the judgment delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on September 6, 2023.