BBC Africa published a report on Wednesday concerning Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his certificate forgery saga, with the title “Bola Ahmed Tinubu Diploma: No Evidence Nigeria’s President Forged College Record.” This report promotes inconsistencies and alarming blunders from the BBC disinformation team.
The Chicago State University released the academic records of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the PDP presidential candidate Abubakar Atiku on October 2nd and a successful deposition on October 3rd after weeks of legal fireworks in the United States, with the latter fighting hard to stop the release of his records.
Our findings, after successfully studying the released documents, show that the certificate Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wasn’t the same CSU-issued certificate in 1979. Note: This was established by CSU under the oath that the said certificate wasn’t issued by the institution. Questioned under oath, Caleb Westberg, the registrar at Chicago State University, said Mr. Tinubu’s certificate, dated June 22, 1979, and tendered to INEC on June 17, 2022, was not issued by the school, and its administrators could, therefore, not be able to authenticate its source. With this, the question is: why would BBC Africa say there’s no evidence?
Similarly, findings by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) have shown that the BBC erred in its report.
According to FIJ, it fact-checked Tinubu’s academic profile after Chicago State University (CSU) released his academic records to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in early October.
From the documents made available by CSU, FIJ found that the replacement certificate Tinubu presented to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) did not emanate from the university. FIJ came to this conclusion after it compared replacement certificates issued in the 1990s with the one Tinubu submitted to INEC ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Interestingly, the certificate Bola Tinubu submitted to INEC was signed by “Dr. Lubin”. However, it was established during the deposition that no matter the year one graduates, if one orders the diploma, it will be signed by the present president of CSU. Another question to be asked is, how was Dr. Lubin, who was not even in that position, able to sign Bola Tinubu’s certificate?
The BBC Africa publication titled Bola Ahmed Tinubu Diploma: No Evidence Nigeria’s President Forged College Record” is malicious with the intent to mislead and misinform the unsuspecting public.
Many Nigerians have continued to react to the BBC’s report and have pointed out several inconsistencies and contradictions in the CSU documents. Some also questioned the credibility and impartiality of the BBC report, alleging that it was influenced by the British government or procured by Mr. Tinubu and his cronies.
In a chat with Parallel Facts News, popular Nigerian rights activist Aisha Yesufu opined that the BBC report had a preconceived goal it wanted to achieve. She said, ”It seems the BBC report had a preconceived goal it wanted to achieve and used innuendo and half-truths to arrive at the conclusion.
“Its conclusion seems to be geared to prove a paragraph in its report where it said, ‘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 body (INEC).’ It seems the BBC has concluded who the victor is and has done everything to ensure the victory it has awarded to the said victor “.
On X, Nigerian users expressed their anger and disappointment with the BBC. One user, @KingInspires, wrote: “This BBC FAKE news was done by their DISINFORMATION TEAM. The team is responsible for spreading paid propaganda and false information. Apparently, Nigerians are the people they could use to produce the unfortunate paid propaganda.
Another user, @madona1996, said: “A whole BBC News Africa has joined the gang of fake News Merchants in Nigeria like channels television, TVC and all the mainstream media. British government, we reject second colonialization through Thiefnubu, the drug lord and certificate forger.”
The BBC has not responded to the allegations of bias or disinformation. Meanwhile, Mr. Abubakar’s legal team is preparing to present its case at the Supreme Court, where it hopes to overturn Mr. Tinubu’s election victory. Mr. Tinubu has maintained that he graduated from CSU with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1979 and that his certificate is authentic and valid.