Caleb Westberg, the registrar of Chicago State University (CSU), provided an oral deposition in support of documents submitted to Atiku Abubakar, confirming the student records of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Westberg revealed that the university receives between five and 30 daily enquiries about Tinubu, emphasizing that the flood of inquiries was not communicated to Tinubu.
During the deposition, Westberg stated that Bola Tinubu’s name is considered unusual in the U.S., contributing to the belief that the CSU alumnus and the Nigerian President are the same person. He mentioned that the controversy over whether the student admitted in 1977 was a man or woman was clarified, confirming that Tinubu applied and was admitted as a male.
Regarding the certificates submitted to Atiku, Westberg clarified that CSU only retains diplomas that students do not pick up, and the university typically does not keep diplomas. He explained that Mr. Tinubu did not pick up his diploma, which was available in CSU’s possession, and the one submitted to INEC was not in their possession because Tinubu had picked it up.
When questioned about the certification of documents, Westberg mentioned that CSU had never certified documents for anyone before and that the certification request may have been related to a Nigerian context. He confirmed that Jason Carter, who certified the documents, departed from CSU after the certification, but Westberg did not think the departure was connected to the certification.
Westberg affirmed that his statement about Tinubu’s graduation was based on transcripts in CSU’s possession, and he had never met or seen Tinubu. He added that in the U.S., diplomas are considered ceremonial documents, and more reliance is placed on transcripts.
The registrar noted that he did not rely on information from public records to determine Tinubu’s attendance at CSU and had not been contacted by the FBI regarding Tinubu. He mentioned that people might make mistakes in data entry, and the entries indicating different birth years for Tinubu might be errors.
The deposition sheds light on the ongoing controversy surrounding President Tinubu’s education and documents submitted to Atiku Abubakar, providing insights into CSU’s records and procedures.
