The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has defended President Bola Tinubu\u2019s academic record at the Chicago State University, insisting that the President graduated with a first-class degree in accounting from the American institution.\n<\/p>\n
Alausa said he was familiar with the university, having lived in Chicago for almost 30 years, and had personally met several people who studied with Tinubu.\n<\/p>\n
He stated this during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday while responding to questions about the President\u2019s educational qualifications.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you hardcore facts. I lived in Chicago for almost 30 years. I\u2019ve been to that university so many times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he had met Tinubu\u2019s classmates, the minister replied, \u201cOh, many, many, many, in person. Many. So forget the nonsense of\u2026\u201d\n<\/p>\n
When asked whether the President graduated with a first-class degree from the institution, Alausa answered, \u201cIn accounting, of course.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He also described Tinubu as a genius, dismissing questions about the President\u2019s intellectual capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, he\u2019s a genius. Let\u2019s not talk about the capability of this President. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is literally a genius,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The minister further defended Tinubu\u2019s performance in office, claiming that the President had transformed Nigeria from a moribund country into a growing economy.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at how he\u2019s transformed a moribund country three years ago to a country that is growing,\u201d Alausa said.\n<\/p>\n
However, when the interviewer challenged the description by pointing to the country\u2019s out-of-school children and poverty levels, the minister insisted that the conversation should remain focused on the President\u2019s achievements.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me focus on what you\u2019re saying. I don\u2019t want you to derail this conversation. But this President has delivered this for Nigeria,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Tinubu\u2019s academic qualifications have continued to attract public scrutiny, particularly following the controversy surrounding his Chicago State University records during the 2023 presidential election petition.\n<\/p>\n
The debate resurfaced in August 2026 after the Independent National Electoral Commission began displaying the personal particulars and academic credentials submitted by presidential candidates for the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
Tinubu\u2019s Form EC9, sighted by PUNCH, listed a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Chicago State University, awarded with honours on June 22, 1979.\n<\/p>\n
The form also listed his National Youth Service Corps discharge documents, indicating that he served in Oyo State from December 1982 to November 1983.\n<\/p>\n
However, the spaces provided for his primary and secondary school qualifications were entered as \u201c0000\u201d, with only his university qualification indicated in the educational history published by the commission.\n<\/p>\n
The development renewed questions about the President\u2019s educational background, with political figures and commentators expressing different views on the omissions.\n<\/p>\n
The university had earlier confirmed that Tinubu attended the institution and graduated in 1979, with accounting as his major.\n<\/p>\n
In September 2023, the university released Tinubu\u2019s academic records following a legal request by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who sought the documents as part of his challenge to the President\u2019s election victory.\n<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s registrar, Caleb Westberg, also testified in a United States court that Tinubu attended and graduated from the institution.<\/p>\n
However, the university\u2019s records confirm accounting as Tinubu\u2019s major but do not specify that he graduated with a first-class classification. The claim that he obtained a first-class degree was made by Alausa during Tuesday\u2019s interview.\n<\/p>\n
In October 2023, a BBC fact-check found no evidence that Tinubu forged the Chicago State University diploma he submitted to INEC.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has defended President Bola Tinubu\u2019s academic record at the Chicago State University, insisting that the President graduated with a first-class degree in accounting from… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}