Abuja-based political analyst, John Awolabi, has knocked a presenter with Arise Television, Rufai Oseni, over false claims made with respect to President Bola Tinubuโs certificate from Chicago State University.
In the past few weeks, Rufai has come under intense criticism, especially from Reno Omokri, the ex-special assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, who alleged that Peter Obi funded the funeral of Rufaiโs fatherโs burial.
But Obi has since refuted the claims that he financed the burial.
Awolabi on Tuesday, September 5, said that Chicago Varsity never denied Tinubu as claimed in the media.
He said instead, the university had come out to acknowledge that Tinubu, who is now the president of Nigeria, was once a student of the varsity.
Awolabi said: โRufai Oseni, a presenter on AriseTVโs ‘The Morning Show’ stirred the hornetโs nest when he claimed on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, that Chicago State University was hit with a subpoena, and based on that document, they disclaimed Bola Tinubuโs academic records. This was three months before the presidential election.
โMr. Oseni then claimed on air that he had sourced that โfactโ from The Vanguard newspaper.
โHowever, independent investigations have shown that Chicago State University deposed to an affidavit on August 23, 2023, upholding Mr. Tinubuโs academic standing as an attendee and graduate of their institution.
โTo date, neither AriseTV nor Mr. Oseni has done a corrigendum correcting this non-factual statement made and passed off as news to the Nigerian public.
โMoreover, several Nigerians have published documents they received from Chicago State University affirming that Bola Tinubu attended and graduated from their university, including former Presidential spokesman and bestselling author Reno Omokri and popular columnist and US Professor, Farooq Kperogi.
โSome have suggested that passing off untruths to the public about a candidate in an election is tantamount to election interference.โ