There is no evidence that the diploma Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the country's electoral commission was forged, the BBC's Global Disinformation Team has found.

Allegations that President Tinubu's certificates were faked went viral on social media following the release by Chicago State University (CSU) of his academic records last week.
We have looked at some of the most widely circulated claims.

The release of the president's academic documents is the culmination of a judicial case filed in August by one of his main rivals in February's presidential election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Abubakar was hoping to have the victor disqualified after accusing him of falsifying the CSU diploma of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration awarded in 1979 that he submitted to the electoral authority (Inec).

To obtain evidence for his case in Nigeria, Mr Abubakar approached a US court in August, requesting it to compel CSU to release Mr Tinubu's academic records through a process called discovery, where the parties exchange information including documents ahead of a trial.

Mr Tinubu's lawyers opposed the discovery application, citing privacy concerns, but the US court decided it should proceed.

The documents requested by Mr Abubakar were:

1, A copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979

2, A copy of the diploma CSU gave to Mr Tinubu in 1979

3, Copies of diplomas with the same font, seal, signatures, and wording awarded to other students that are similar to what CSU awarded to Mr Tinubu in 1979
4, Documents from CSU that were certified by Jamar Orr, who was then a staff member of CSU, in the 12 months from 1 August 2022

In response to request one, CSU submitted seven diplomas covering different disciplines with the names of the students redacted. According to the university's registrar, these diplomas had not been collected by the students.

In response to request two, CSU stated that it could not find the diploma they issued to Mr Tinubu in 1979, because they do not keep copies of diplomas already collected by students.

In response to request three, CSU stated that it produced for Mr Tinubu a replacement diploma dated 27 June 1979. It also released diplomas awarded to other students that bore similar font, seal, signatures and wordings as Mr Tinubu's diplomas.

In response to request four, CSU submitted other academic documents initially attested to and released by Mr Orr.

In line with the judge's ruling, Mr Abubakar's lawyer Angela Liu last week questioned Caleb Westberg, CSU's current registrar, in a deposition.
The BBC was given access to the deposition transcript by Mr Abubakar's spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.

Some social media users in Nigeria allege that the deposition and the diplomas released by CSU confirm that the diploma submitted to Inec by Mr Tinubu was forged.
This claim was also repeated by one of Mr Abubakar's lawyers, Kalu Kalu, at a press conference last week.
We found there was no evidence to support this claim.

The CSU released several diplomas issued between 1979 and 2003.
We analysed all of them.
There are three different diplomas for Mr Tinubu that we refer to throughout our analysis:

1. The original one, from 1979, which he has said in the past was lost when he went into exile in the 1990s

2. 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)

3. Additionally, CSU holds another replacement diploma for Mr Tinubu that they say is probably from the early 2000s that he never collected
The allegations on social media are based on a comparison between the document Mr Tinubu submitted to Inec and the 1979 diplomas released by CSU.
During Mr Westberg's deposition, Mr Atiku's lawyer focused on the copy of the diploma President Tinubu handed to the electoral commission and suggested that it was unlike any of the diplomas released by CSU.

However, while Mr Westberg agreed with Ms Liu that the diploma in question does not look like the samples from 1979, he stated that the certificate actually looks like three of the diplomas CSU released to Mr Abubakar. Our analysis confirms this.

It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s.
Mr Westberg said the template of CSU's diploma has changed several times over the years. He said any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated.
As such, if Mr Tinubu had reordered his diploma in the late 1990s, what he would have been given would look like what was obtainable then.

Three of the diplomas dating from the 1990s that CSU submitted were similar to Mr Tinubu's.

One of them, which bears the date 18 December 1998, is identical (aside from the names, class of degree, and dates) to the diploma Mr Tinubu handed over to Inec.

Mr Westberg also stated that CSU does not keep notes of when a graduate asks for the reissuing of a diploma and therefore Mr Tinubu's request for a copy of the diploma was not recorded.

The copy he gave to the election commission had part of the university logo missing, which Mr Westberg said in his deposition was possibly "cut off" when it was photocopied.

We analysed the diploma. It appears in fact that its bottom part was not included during the photocopy process.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67067854?xtor=AL-72-

Fake BBC that claims not body died during endsars massacre. Who knows how much they collected this time.

BBC I hail ooo

A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves for over flogging a non-issue and unnecessarily causing our country avoidable embarrassment.

Then our journalists in Nigeria should equally be ashamed of themselves, especially that AriseTv and Oseni Rufai.

Hahahaha

The igbo community would hold emergency meeting to address the issue,

victorclean:
Fake BBC that claims not body died during endsars massacre. Who knows how much they collected this time.

BBC I hail ooo

Did anybody die at the Lekki tollgate? If there are, you have been challenged to provide names! Why do you people like clawing at straws? From one lie to another

You go explain taya

NOETHNICITY:
Did anybody die at the Lekki tollgate? If there are, you have been challenged to provide names! Why do you people like clawing at straws? From one lie to another

https://punchng.com/lagos-suspends-planned-mass-burial-for-endsars-victims/

I hope the above link helps you.
Shalom

Useless oduduwpig's lamentations. People that lies from the womb.

A tribe that can't strive on their own. Every body smoking SK, Marijuana, cannabis etc.

Their women are very dirty , struggling to be fair in complexion with black feets and fingers.

So funny 🤣🤣🤣 anyway. I saw hell in in oduduwpigs republic.

NOETHNICITY:
Did anybody die at the Lekki tollgate? If there are, you have been challenged to provide names! Why do you people like clawing at straws? From one lie to anothesser

victorclean:
Useless oduduwpig's lamentations. People that lies from the womb.

A tribe that can't strive on their own. Every body smoking SK, Marijuana, cannabis etc.

Their women are very dirty , struggling to be fair in complexion with black feets and fingers.

So funny 🤣🤣🤣 anyway. I saw hell in in oduduwpigs republic.

First, you got my tribe all wrong! That notwithstanding, I’m proud to be affiliated with the Yoruba given that I’ve lived in yoruba land since March 2011. First, it was Ilorin, Kwara (where I almost married an Ilorin Fulani girl. Very beautiful damsel she was. From the crown of her to the tip of her toe, beautiful. Although I’m glad I did not eventually owing to some other reasons!). I later potted to Lagos in 2018 where I’ve lived till date. Considering the invent between 2018 and now, I’m glad I made the choices I made.

Second, reading through your many vituperations and anger for the Yoruba, I can tell you’re an Igbo person! Only the Igbo hate the Yoruba for reasons I can not explain!
Basically, I think it is in the Igbo nature to hate others.
This does not remove the fact that they abhor passive resentment for one another still. An Anambra man does not want to deal with an individual from Ebonyi. While someone from Ebonyi doesn’t trust someone from Anambra. This situation applies to all the states in the SE region. Na una way!

Lagos state government announced that it’s metro trains will switch to electric 3 days from now! Are these the reasons you hate the Yoruba? Because they are progressive?
Understand that it’s impossible for you to grow if you don’t wish others well in life.

The hate seems to be historical and passed down from one generation igbo to another. It was this same hate that drove your Igbo brothers into plotting the 1st coup ever witnessed in Nigeria. During the coup, your people executed Sadaruna in Kaduna. Executed Tafawa Balewa and other senior government officials of yoruba and Hausa extraction in Lagos, while sparing the lives of all senior government officials of igbo extraction in the process.

Judge yourself. And don’t come here telling me that Nig should let you people go have your Biafra, because last time I checked no senator or House of Representative members or governor from the SE has formerly requested secession from Nigeria. You can challenge then to bring forward the request and watch if Nigeria will not quickly grant that request!

Eeeeeeerhhh very sorry if I offended you by my writeup. Remember I did not mentioned Yoruba , rather oduduwpigs.

Why are you bitter about my statements. Oga no kill yourself ooo. Nairaland is for fun and is use to while away time.

You are right to defend your inherited dirty, hypocritical and cowardice gene if you consider yourself an oduduwpig.

As for me , I intend not to step on toe but to expose the truth.

Cry not again cos nobody is an oduduwpig.

NOETHNICITY:
First, you got my tribe all wrong! That notwithstanding, I’m proud to be affiliated with the Yoruba given that I’ve lived in yoruba land since March 2011. First, it was Ilorin, Kwara (where I almost married an Ilorin Fulani girl. Very beautiful damsel she was. From the crown of her to the tip of her toe, beautiful. Although I’m glad I did not eventually owing to some other reasons!). I later potted to Lagos in 2018 where I’ve lived till date. Considering the invent between 2018 and now, I’m glad I made the choices I made.

Second, reading through your many vituperations and anger for the Yoruba, I can tell you’re an Igbo person! Only the Igbo hate the Yoruba for reasons I can not explain!
Basically, I think it is in the Igbo nature to hate others.
This does not remove the fact that they abhor passive resentment for one another still. An Anambra man does not want to deal with an individual from Ebonyi. While someone from Ebonyi doesn’t trust someone from Anambra. This situation applies to all the states in the SE region. Na una way!

Lagos state government announced that it’s metro trains will switch to electric 3 days from now! Are these the reasons you hate the Yoruba? Because they are progressive?
Understand that it’s impossible for you to grow if you don’t wish others well in life.

The hate seems to be historical and passed down from one generation igbo to another. It was this same hate that drove your Igbo brothers into plotting the 1st coup ever witnessed in Nigeria. During the coup, your people executed Sadaruna in Kaduna. Executed Tafawa Balewa and other senior government officials of yoruba and Hausa extraction in Lagos, while sparing the lives of all senior government officials of igbo extraction in the process.

Judge yourself. And don’t come here telling me that Nig should let you people go have your Biafra, because last time I checked no senator or House of Representative members or governor from the SE has formerly requested secession from Nigeria. You can challenge then to bring forward the request and watch if Nigeria will not quickly grant that request!