Based on recent statements from Reno Omokri, it appears that President Bola Tinubu did in fact attend Chicago State University despite some controversy surrounding his academic documents from the university.
There has been speculation about why Tinubu allegedly submitted a “fake” CSU certificate to INEC before the 2025 presidential election, as some of the signatures and logos on the released documents do not match those on the supposed certificate belonging to Tinubu.
However, Omokri has defended Tinubu, stating that the president claimed all his academic certificates, including his University of Chicago certificate, were stolen by unknown individuals. Omokri suggested that Tinubu may have obtained a replacement certificate from a third-party vendor after losing the original certificate abroad.
While some may wonder why Tinubu’s Chicago State University diploma looks different from others, Omokri believes this is due to the circumstances surrounding the loss and replacement of his original certificate.
“This was published by all major newspapers in Nigeria the next day. In an affidavit, Bola Tinubu said that he:
‘“Went on self-exile from October 1994 to October 1998, when I returned and discovered that my property including all the documents relating to my qualification and my certificates in respect of paragraph 3 above, were looted by unknown persons.’
“When you lose your original certificate, you can get a ceremonial replacement certificate from any number of third-party commercial vendors who will issue it to you after verifying from the original institution that you attended their school.
“If you studied in the United States and want a replacement certificate, just Google these words ‘how to get a ceremonial replacement certificate’.
“For example, in 1983, I attended an Elementary School in Albany, California, just outside the University of California, Berkeley. My parents have died, and the whereabouts of my record from that school was with them, and I was just nine years old at that time, so I have no proof that I attended beyond photographs.
“However, there are academic records, and I can pay commercial third-party sites to verify those records and issue me a ceremonial certificate. That is what Bola Tinubu did.
“Any interested parties can contact Chicago State University via their phone number (+1 (773) 995-2517) and their email address (CSU-Registrar@csu.edu) to verify what I have written above.
“AriseTV lied. And if they are sure of their claims, I challenge them to sue me in court. What they did is not investigative journalism. It is yellow journalism.”