“We were in the same department, class, and college” – Tinubu’s classmate at Chicago State University speaks

A Public Affairs Analyst, Durojaiye Ogunsanya, has said he was President Bola Tinubu’s classmate at Chicago State University (CSU) and they both graduated in 1979.

Ogunsanya said this during an interview on TVC on Monday, amid the controversy generated by Tinubu’s academic records.

This is as Justice Jeffrey Gilbert of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is set to rule on a subpoena application for Tinubu’s records from CSU shortly after the institution denied knowledge of a certificate the Nigerian president submitted to the country’s electoral umpire to run for office.

The candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had filed the application before the court amid alleged discrepancies from CSU’s records indicating that the individual who enrolled in the school in 1977 was a woman.

However, Ogunsanya said those who claimed Tinubu did not attend the school were being “mischievous”.

Asked what ran through his mind when he heard Tinubu’s traducers contesting his academic records, Ogunsanya said, “We were in the same department, class, and college.

“We met in school at Chicago State University (CSU) and we were in the same department — college of accounting, business administration — with a major in accounting.

“We graduated together. He did attend the Chicago State University and he graduated in 1979 as I did. I’m here to testify that he did attend the university and he was a good student.

“People were being mischievous in the first place because he was a governor for eight years, he worked for Mobil for several years and you are contesting that he did not go to university. How is that possible?

“I can’t imagine how that is possible. Sometimes, the president might be embellished but that does not mean he did not attend university.”

Ogunsanya added that Tinubu was elected as the president of the accounting student club at CSU between 1978/1979.

He also said that Tinubu was the butt of jokes at CSU because of his “deep” Nigerian accent.

“We were members of the accounting club in the school. When the time for the election came, the president surprised me.

“There was a time he became the president of the club. Go and check it out. We were even laughing at him with his accent.

“He had a Nigerian accent and because of that we were laughing at him,” Ogunsanya said.