The Chicago State University confirmed to American news network, CBS, that President Bola Tinubu graduated from the institution in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Administration.
There has been controversy surrounding Tinubu’s academic record with the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, filing a lawsuit in the US to compel CSU officials to turn over Tinubu’s academic documents.
However, CSU told CBS that it was confident in the veracity and integrity of its records regarding Tinubu’s completion of graduation requirements and degree certificate, but was restrained by the United States federal law to provide any further information about Tinubu’s record, without consent or unless allowed to do so via court order.
The statement from the Chicago State University on Tinubu published by CBS on Thursday reads,
“As an educational institution, we are sometimes asked to provide information related to student records.
“Federal law known as FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) protects the privacy of student records and limits what an institution can release.
“In August 2023, a request was made in U.S. federal court for the university to provide information related to educational records concerning Bola Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, and a former CSU student.
“The university has confirmed Tinubu attended CSU and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree. Federal law, however, prevents us from providing any further information without consent or unless allowed to do so via court order.
“CSU is confident in the veracity and integrity of our records regarding Tinubu’s completion of graduation requirements and degree certificate.
“The university is not a party to the Nigerian legal proceedings that spurred this request, and a U.S. federal judge will determine whether the university will provide further requested information.
“Our response to the request for Tinubu’s academic records has been entirely consistent with our practices, policies, and federal law. We would respond in exactly the same manner for any request for any student information by a third party.”
