Tinubu to INEC: I did not attend primary, secondary schools
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Sen Bola Tinubu, has told the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that he did not attend primary and secondary schools.
Tinubu, however, claimed that he obtained two degrees from two American universities, which were stolen by unknown soldiers during the military junta of the 1990s.
He made the claims in an affidavit which he submitted to INEC as part of his eligibility filings for the 2023 presidential elections.
The electoral law mandates candidates to submit their personal credentials that will be published for public scrutiny ahead of elections.
Sources said that that the APC presidential flag bearer left the columns for his primary and secondary education unmarked in the INEC documents released on Friday.
Tinubu, who is a former governor of Lagos state, also claimed to have obtained a degree in business and administration in 1979, apparently referring to his previous claims of attending the Chicago State University, U.S.A.
The affidavit reads, “I went on self-exile from October 1994 to October 1998. When I returned I discovered that all my property, including all the documents relating to my qualifications and my certificates in respect of paragraph three above, were looted by unknown persons.
“My house was a target of series of searches by various security agents from the time the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was forced to adjourn following the military takeover of government of 17th November 1993.
“I was the chairman of the Senate committee on appropriation, banking and finance. I was also a plaintiff in one of the two suits against the interim national government in 1993.
“I went on exile when it became clear to me that my life was in danger.”
Tinubu’s latest claims however appear to contradict his previous election submissions, especially in 1999 and 2003 when he ran for office as a governorship candidate in Lagos.
He had claimed at that time that he attended primary and secondary schools.
He said he attended St Paul Children’s Home School, Ibadan, between 1958 to 1964; while his secondary education was at Government College, Ibadan, between 1965 to 1968.
The APC presidential candidate claimed at that time that he proceeded to Richard Daley College, Chicago, from 1969 to 1971.
In the previous claim, he had stated that he finally attended both the Chicago State University and the University of Chicago in the U.S.
Although Chicago State University confirmed Mr Tinubu as its student, who graduated with a degree in business and administration on June 22, 1979, Tinubu’s submissions were, however, challenged as fraudulent by a prominent Nigerian lawyer, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN.
Fawehinmi, had argued the matter up to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the case on technical grounds rather than on its merits.
Tinubu’s latest claims have already stirred another round of controversy with Ikenga Ugochinyere, a political activist in Abuja, vowing to challenge the filings in Court on the grounds of perjury.
He said, “Tinubu commits perjury as he abandons his earlier claim of attending primary school, sworn in an affidavit to run for governor but now claims not to have attended primary school.
“His new forms contradict his 2007 affidavit that he has primary school and secondary.”
Periscope International reports that neither the APC presidential candidate nor his aides were immediately available to react to the alleged discrepancies in his submissions to INEC, prior to the filing of this report.
