By Ayo Lijadu
“Tí Arígi Ṣẹ́gi bá ṣẹ́gi, orí ara rẹ̀ l’ó ma fi rù ú” – A Yoruba Proverb.
Since the deposition in a Chicago court by the Registrar of the Chicago State University, Carl Westberg few days ago, which shed more light on the authenticity or otherwise of the certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, two major opposing camps have emerged airing their opinions as to whether the certificate is authentic or a forgery.
I belong to the latter camp that believes it is a forgery for the simple reason that the University that purportedly issued the certificate submitted to INEC by President Tinubu, as represented by its registrar Carl Westberg, unequivocally declared under oath, and at the risk of perjury, that ‘The Diploma presented to INEC by Tinubu is not like those issued in 1979.’
The document, (deposition), contains so many explosive and earth shattering revelations, (including likely identify theft), that has left many people shaking in disbelief, and causing us, as a country, global embarrassment and opprobrium of unimaginable proportions.
For lack of space, I reproduce hereunder just a tiny portion of the document that leaves no sane mind in any doubt that what was submitted to INEC is a forged document:
·2· · · · Q· · And let’s take a look at the INEC diploma.
·3· ·The INEC diploma says that the diploma is granted on
·4· ·this 22nd day of June 1979, correct?
·5· · · · A· · Yes.
·6· · · · Q· · And CSU didn’t have a Board of Trustees in
·7· ·1979, did it?
·8· · · · A· · True.
·9· · · · Q· · So let’s look at the signatures on the INEC
10· ·diploma.· On the right it looks like one of the
11· ·signatures says Elnora Daniel, correct?
12· · · · A· · Yes.
13· · · · Q· · And Elnora Daniel was not the Chair or
14· ·President of CSU in 1979, correct?
15· · · · A· · Yes.
16· · · · Q· · She was the President from 1998 to 2008,
17· ·correct?
18· · · · A· · As far as I’m aware.
19· · · · Q· · For the other two signatures, the one on the
20· ·right looks like Herbert A. Conley?· It doesn’t state
21· ·”Dean” under it, correct?
22· · · · A· · It does appear that may be cut off from the
23· ·Xerox.
24· · · · Q· · But it is not there, correct?
Page 38
·1· · · · A· · I do not see it on the paper.
·2· · · · Q· · And Herbert A. Conley was not Dean in 1979,
·3· ·correct?
·4· · · · A· · As far as I’m aware.
There you have it!
Officials who were employed by CSU many years after our President supposedly graduated from that University have their signatures appended on the CSU diploma submitted to INEC by our President for the 2023 elections.
Was there time travel during the time our President allegedly graduated from Chicago State University? Specifically, did one of the signatories cited in part of the deposition reproduced above, that is, Elnora Daniel, employed in 1998, travel back twenty years to 1979, to sign Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s diploma, allegedly issued to him by CSU in 1979?
Mr. Westberg in his deposition stated categorically that Chicago State University DID NOT issue a diploma dated 27th June 1979 to Mr. Tinubu. So where did Mr. President get his certificate, as it was also established in the deposition that the University does not deal with third party vendors or issuers?
As I stated at the beginning, there are two opposing camps that have emerged following the publication of the CSU Deposition: (1) The Tinubu supporters group who affirm that what the President submitted was genuine, and (2) Those who affirm that the CSU diploma the President submitted to INEC is a forgery.
I have presented indisputable evidence citing parts of the contents of the deposition to advance the stand of the latter group.
What arguments have the President’s support group to canvass their position that the certificate he submitted to INEC is genuine? Just one line of argument, mainly; “all of this brouhaha is just opposition politics.”
This issue has nothing to do with “opposition politics,” What the average person, be he Nigerian, American, British, or citizen from any other part of the world, (seeing as this issue has attained global attention), just wants to know is; The Truth.
Anyone accessing that document, (deposition), from anywhere around the world, and juxtaposing the contents therein with the certificate submitted to INEC by Tinubu will come to only ONE simple conclusion; The certificate submitted by the President is A FORGERY.
Even if our Supreme Court rules in Tinubu’s favour, (on whatever grounds), it still cannot erase the fact that in the face of weighty evidence provided by the CSU Registrar’s deposition, and in the eyes of the average educated, intelligent, neutral, and unbiased global person, the simple, glaring, and indisputable FACT is that our President presented a FORGED CERTIFICATE.
No matter what ‘alternative facts’ or ‘alternative truth’ we may want to present as a country to the international community by claiming anything different from the truth established by that CSU deposition, it can never overturn the clear and unambiguous truth that has been unearthed by the deposition, which by now is already deposited in international data archives like Google which, as they say, is ‘your friend’, and on the internet of which it is said, ‘never forgets’
Should we continue in denial rather than jointly and unequivocally condemning our President for the crime of forgery which he, by himself, determined to commit long ago, we all will be doing ourselves an incalculable harm, and it will further diminish our already battered international image which suffers the unenviable description of a ‘fantastically corrupt country’
How anyone of us as Nigerians, (whether in support of or against Tinubu), will escape being tarred with the same brush as certificate and document forgers, will remain to be seen. No matter what educational, professional, political, or social status you might have attained, and no matter how many years so attained, other nations will continue to doubt the authenticity and genuineness of our documents, beginning with our passports.
Rather than letting one man carry his own shame, the whole nation of over two hundred million citizens will now be burdened with a collective shame.
A Yoruba proverb says, “Tí Arígi ṣẹ́gi bá ṣẹ́gi, orí ará rẹ̀ l’ó ma fi rù ú. Meaning, “He who cuts down wood from a tree for his own use, must use his own head to carry it.”
Rather than allowing over two hundred million Nigerians to get roped into a crime committed by one individual over four decades ago, and being tagged a nation of criminals because we continue to defend him and give excuses for his crime, we should leave him, alone, to face the consequences of his own criminal actions taken decades ago.
“Tí Arígi Ṣẹ́gi bá ṣẹ́gi, orí ará rẹ̀ l’ó ma firù ú.”
“He who cuts down wood from a tree for his own use, must use his own head to carry it.”
Let President Bola Ahmed Tinubu use his own head to carry his own load.
Ayo Lijadu is a veteran actor, former Presidential aspirant, and later Senatorial candidate of Kowa Party for Lagos East senatorial district in the 2019 General Elections. He features regularly in the daily TV soap, Tinsel, and writes from Lagos.
