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From Godwin Tsa Abuja
A civil society organisation, the Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy (CFRPA), has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking clarification on the academic credentials President Bola Tinubu submitted ahead of the 2023 general election.
The group said it was prepared to pursue legal action compelling INEC to act if the Commission does not respond.
This action has revived a dispute that was litigated and ultimately did not succeed in the run-up to the 2023 general election.
In a letter dated June 19, 2026, and received at INEC’s Abuja headquarters the same day, the group’s Head of Legal Unit, Barrister Kalu Agu, asked INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan to state the Commission’s position on the authenticity of the Chicago State University (CSU) certificate and National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate that formed part of Tinubu’s 2023 nomination form, INEC Form EC9.
CFRPA, which described itself as a non-profit pro-democracy and anti-corruption advocacy body, argued that INEC has a constitutional duty under Section 137(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution to bar candidates who present forged certificates, and under Section 285(14) to disqualify ineligible candidates.
The allegations are not new but they stem from a discovery action brought by then-PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — In Re: Application of Atiku Abubakar, Case No. 23-CV-05099 — in which Atiku sought Tinubu’s CSU records to support a forgery claim in his election petition.
The presiding judge, Hon. Nancy Maldonado, ultimately ordered CSU to release the documents in October 2023 after Tinubu’s objections were overruled.
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The released records confirmed Tinubu’s attendance at CSU and that he was awarded a degree in 1979, though Atiku’s camp maintained that inconsistencies in the documents still pointed to forgery.
Atiku subsequently sought to introduce the CSU deposition as fresh evidence before Nigeria’s Supreme Court. However, the apex court’s eventual ruling on the 2023 election petitions did not uphold the forgery claim as grounds to upturn Tinubu’s victory.
CFRPA’s letter citing the same CSU records as “Exhibit CSU” repeats the earlier allegation that Tinubu falsely claimed on his CSU admission form to have attended Government College Lagos from 1960 and to have graduated in 1970, asserting the school was not established until 1974.
The group did not cite independent verification of this claim in the portion of the letter made available.
The organisation said it has separately written the NYSC Director-General and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, asking NYSC to issue a disclaimer on the discharge certificate Tinubu has presented as genuine.
No response yet from Presidency, APC Neither the Presidency nor the All Progressives Congress had responded to the allegations as of press time. [Confirm: has Daily Sun reached out to the Presidency/APC spokesperson? This line should only run once contact has actually been attempted — happy to draft the request.]
INEC had not issued a public response to CFRPA’s letter as of yesterday.
