1. On Saturday September 2, 2023, Faroog A. Kperogi published an article on his personal website titled: “Tinubu Definitely graduated from Chicago State University”.
2. In the article he made good effort, as if he was paid to do so, to put forward six-argument points to ‘prove definitively that Bola A Tinubu who is presently Nigeria’s President graduated from CSU. He said he was set out to refute the renewed, systematic dissemination of lies about Tinubu not having graduated from Chicago State University.
3. He started with a statement that would pass for a note bene: “I’m no fan of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”, perhaps in anticipation of reactions that he wrote to patronise the man he clearly was set out to patronise as much as he can.
4. Before proceeding with his lines of defense, Farooq noted that Tinubu had lied when he said some years ago that he graduated from the elite highly-ranked privately owned University of Chicago. He noted the Tinubu later withdrew the claim and blamed one Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi for the error. One wonders how the Senator would have filled Tinubu’s form with information not provided by him (Tinubu), or how such a well-read Senator will mistake a CSU for the prestigious University of Chicago. The only thing that made sense was that lied, and when caught, claimed it to be an error, and foisted it on another. Now to Farooq’s points in attempting to prove definitively that Tinubu graduated from CSU.
5. His first argument was that the inexistence of Bola A, Tinubu in the archives of the US College graduation records is not a proof that he never graduated from CSU. Farooq affirmed that Tinubu’s name was not found in the archives because it was misspelt as BOLA A.THUBV. He wrote with so much conviction, presenting how it is possible that an “I” and an “N” written in longhand could be mistaken for a “H” and how a “U” could be mistaken for a “V”. He assumed that Tinubu might have complained about the error, but it was probably too late because the information had been sent to the National Student Clearinghouse. Prof. Kperogi would have made good his point here, if he showed any evidence that Tinubu did complain about the misspelling of his name, but he didn’t, so, his point here is a good effort but far from meaningful evidence.
6. His second argument was perhaps the most porous and unexpected from a man of his statute in learning. Here he referenced an alleged letter from FBI to EFCC in July 2011 that referred to a ‘Bola Tinubo’ having no record in CSU. The point here is that this letter has not been shown to be a certified true copy, and so using it as a basis to refute whatever it is Farooq was trying to refute was effort in futility. This argument makes absolutely no sense as a point for proving ‘definitely’ that Tinubu graduated from CSU.
7. Farooq’s third argument referred to a Southwest College (presently Richard J. Daley College) transcript allegedly belonging to one Bola A. Tinubu who was a female, in which he raised ‘several red flags’. He noted that the social security number in the transcript is an impossible number since it contained 9 digits in 3 parts of 3 digits each (231-060-595) instead of three parts of a 3-digit, a 2 digit and a 4 digit. It is amazing that Farooq who is magnanimous in considering that a THUBV was an erroneous representation of a TINUBU, could not imagine that an SSN of 231-060-595 SSN could have been a mistake of what could have been 231-06-0595 (or so). Prof. Kperogi also noted that the transcript was improperly dated and left the spaces for the date of birth and record of high school blank. What Farooq could have done was to leverage his network of friends as he claimed he did with CSU, to verify this transcript from Southwest College. Unless he can do this, this point is of no use as evidence.
8. As his fourth argument, Farooq defended CSU for locking its Twitter account for what he termed: “response to unremittingly vitriolic denunciations from some Nigerians”. How did the Prof. Kperogi get to this conclusion? He is neither the spokesperson of CSU, nor showed evidence that CSU told him the reason for locking its twitter account. He affirmed that these Nigerians say that CSU’s locking of its twitter account indicates that the school is guilty of issuing fake degree to Tinubu. This could be a figment of Farooq’s imagination as there is no evidence in this regard. Most incriminating, and a good suggestion of the mind of Farooq is his assertion that the quantum of negative attention CSU received were from Nigerians who were still smarting from the outcome of the last Presidential election. Question is: “is Prof. Farooq Kperogi unaware that Nigeria has remained uneasy since the February 25, 2023, Presidential election?” Or is Mr. Kperogi unaware that at least two opposition parties are presently challenging the process and outcome of that election (with overwhelming evidence) in the court. If Farooq Kperogi is ok with the declaration of Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s President (a man he noted lied that he graduated from the University of Chicago), he must respect the right of others who believe that an alleged perjurer among other allegations is a no fit as Nigeria’s president, to have their day in court. This fourth point is more like what is called in Nigeria, ‘a gossip talk’.
9. Farooq’s fifth argument seeking to definitively prove that Tinubu graduated from CSU is that no one should make a big issue of the fact that Tinubu withdrew his earlier claims that he attended primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. He did well to show that a candidate can earn a degree in America without ever attending a secondary school via GED Test. He noted that due to a wide speculation that Tinubu had changed his birth identity and disclaimed all associations with the schools he attended in his actual hometown in Osun State, he may have gained admission into higher institution through GED in Chicago. This Farooq’s argument is more indicting to Tinubu than it seeks to save him, (i) As at 1992 long after his claimed graduation from CSU, Tinubu filled his primary and secondary school in the INEC form. If he had disclaimed his association with his early schools in Nigeria in the 70s in the US, why claim them again in 1992? (ii) Why didn’t he fill his GED in his INEC form? (iii) Also noteworthy is that the primary and secondary schools he claimed he attended were not in Osun State. This argument does not make reasonable sense.
10. Farooq’s final argument to definitively show that Tinubu graduated from CSU relates to Tinubu’s frantic efforts to keep his academic records secret. Farooq educated his readers on the US Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which forbids universities and colleges in the US from disclosing a student’s academic record to a 3rd party without the student’s written permission, but that schools can only confirm directory information as to whether a student graduated from a school or not. Farooq didn’t think that Tinubu should accede to his academic records being released to his political opponents, even if it is just for the pleasure of seeing the opponent squirm in anger and frustration. With his last point Farooq showed no interest with Nigeria’s political wellbeing, and his decided intention to write the article in support of Tinubu’s efforts to make his opponents “squirm in anger and frustration”. If Prof. Kperogi does not wish Nigerians to continue to “squirm in anger and frustration due to Tinubu effects – which clearly and evidently the case, he would rather push efforts to encourage Tinubu to make his academic records available not just to his political opponents but to Nigerians to settle the matter once and for all. More so, considering that by his own admission Tinubu said he had an excellent record at CSU. Who is ashamed of showing excellent records? Farooq’s point is a watery as others.
11. Unless Farooq A. Kperogi was unable to express the intentions of his mind in this article (which is unlikely in view of his learning), then his efforts are not even as good as applying body fillers on rusted material.
