A public affairs analyst, Durojaiye Ogunsanya, has claimed that he and President Bola Tinubu graduated together at the Chicago State University (CSU) in 1979.
This comes amid controversies surrounding Tinubu’s academic records with some of his political opponents demanding proof of his educational claims.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, one of Tinubu’s major contenders in the 2023 presidential election, has filed a suit in an American court, calling for CSU to produce Tinubu’s academic record.
Ogunsanya, while speaking on TVC’s This Morning, testified that he and Nigeria’s President graduated from the Department of Accounting and Business Administration in 1979 from the same university.
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Ogunsanya said: “We met in a school: Chicago State University; we were in the same College of Accounting, Business and Administration, with major in accounting, and we were in the same class together and graduated.
“He did attend the university and graduated in 1979 as I did. So I’m here to testify that he did attend the university, and he was a good student.”
On what he made of people saying that Tinubu did not graduate from the school, Ogunsanya said: “People were being mischievous in the first place. Because he was a governor for eight years, somebody who worked for Mobil several years and you contesting that he didn’t go to university. Is that possible?
“I cannot imagine how that is possible. Sometimes the President might be embellishing, but that does not mean that he didn’t attend the university. He has the record there for people to go and check to confirm all these things that he did.
“I was a bonafide student. I first went to engineering school and nautical engineering. Then I decided no, it’s not for me. I changed college. That’s when I transferred.
“The beauty of it all in America is they make it easy for everybody. There is an opportunity for anybody. You can start from scratch and build yourself up. And you do it even with high school GED.
“You take the exam. Once you pass it you can apply to any college, which is for two years; there you can transfer your credit to a four-year college.
“I think that’s what the President did. He first went to Richard J college and then transfered the credit to a four-year university.
“I didn’t go to college. I went to another Junior College. Then I transferred to go State University. And I met him there.
“One of the professors asked me ‘Are you from Nigeria’, I said ‘yes’. ‘Do you know Bola?’ I said ‘no, I don’t know him’. He said ‘oh, you need to know Bola’.
“Eventually we met and then I found out that he is from Nigeria and we clicked from there. And one other thing is that we wanted a member of the Accounting Society.
“When the time for election came, the president surprised me; that was the time he became the president of the club. People were even laughing at him with his accent, because he had Nigerian accent.
“But with this, he won as president of the club in 1978/79. Those are facts. Go and check it out. He was very social and ambitious even then.
“So I am not surprised that he has carved a niche for himself to become the President.”
