Ehiabhi Jude Idebaneria

WOULD ANY HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT ACCEPT TINUBU’S CV? Letters from Stockholm — The Kio Solution By Kio Amachree | 10 November 2026 Imagine a Nigerian graduate walking into the human resources department of an international bank, applying for a senior position involving the management of billions of dollars. The recruitment officer examines his educational history and discovers several different dates of birth. One academic transcript identifies the student as female, although the applicant is male. Another document refers to a secondary school that apparently did not exist at the time recorded. An accounting firm where the applicant reportedly claimed to have worked says it cannot find his employment records. What would happen next? Would the recruitment officer simply smile, shake his hand and appoint him chief executive? Or would the entire application be subjected to rigorous independent verification? Now imagine that the applicant is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Suddenly, questions that would ordinarily demand straightforward documentary answers become political controversies, with supporters and opponents arguing over documents that should be independently verifiable. Why should the standards applied to an ordinary Nigerian seeking employment be more demanding than those applied to the person entrusted with the presidency? THE MYSTERY OF THE FEMALE STUDENT One of the most extraordinary details emerging from the Chicago State University controversy concerns the records of Southwest College, the institution Tinubu reportedly attended before transferring to Chicago State University. A transcript from Southwest College identified the student as female. Not male. Female. This discrepancy naturally raised questions about the identity of the person whose academic records were being examined. Critics went further, alleging that the Social Security number and educational history pointed to another individual. However, Chicago State University’s registrar, Caleb Westberg, testified that the university’s records identified Bola A. Tinubu as male and that the Social Security number on the Southwest College transcript matched the university’s other records. He suggested that the female designation could have been a clerical error. The university has repeatedly confirmed that Bola A. Tinubu graduated in 1979. Those facts must be acknowledged. Nevertheless, the original discrepancy is real, and the public is entitled to understand how it arose. A responsible human resources department would not settle the matter through political declarations. It would reconcile the documents, establish the identity of the student and record the explanation. That is what proper verification means. THE ACCOUNTING FIRM THAT COULD NOT FIND HIS RECORDS Then there is Deloitte. In November 2022, Nigerian media reported correspondence attributed to Deloitte LLP concerning a request for Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s employment records. The company’s reported response stated: “We have no record of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in our systems.” That statement deserves examination because Tinubu had previously been reported as claiming professional experience with Deloitte & Touche. A missing employment record does not conclusively establish that someone never worked for an organisation. Records can be incomplete, companies reorganise, and historical employment files can disappear. But an international employer conducting background checks would certainly ask for corroboration. Where are the employment contracts? Where are the appointment letters? Where are the salary records, tax documents or pension contributions? Who were the applicant’s supervisors? Can any former colleague independently confirm the employment? These are not extraordinary demands. They are the ordinary questions asked when an applicant’s professional history cannot be independently confirmed. Why should Nigerians be discouraged from asking them about their president? THE SCHOOL THAT DID NOT EXIST Another extraordinary inconsistency concerns Government College Lagos. A document associated with the Chicago State University controversy recorded attendance at Government College Lagos in 1970. Yet the school was established in 1974. How could an educational record refer to attendance at a school four years before its establishment? Africa Check subsequently established an important qualification: there was no evidence that Tinubu himself had claimed on his INEC application to have graduated from Government College Lagos in 1970. That does not erase the discrepancy appearing in the material associated with the university controversy. It changes the question. Who supplied the information? Was it an administrative mistake? Was the name of another school incorrectly recorded? Was the information copied from an earlier document? These are matters that can be investigated through original school records and independently authenticated documents. They should not require years of political warfare. WHERE ARE THE CLASSMATES? There is another question that has frequently appeared in public discussion. Who remembers studying alongside Bola Tinubu? The claim that not one classmate has ever come forward is too absolute. Olajide Adeniji has been publicly identified in reporting on the Chicago State University proceedings as a former classmate. But a broader question remains legitimate. Can a comprehensive account of Tinubu’s earlier educational history be established through school registers, admission records, contemporaneous photographs and independent testimony? A university’s confirmation of graduation is significant evidence. It should not be dismissed simply because political opponents dislike the conclusion. Equally, public confidence benefits when documentary inconsistencies are clearly explained rather than left to circulate indefinitely. THREE DATES OF BIRTH — ONE PRESIDENT Then we come to the question of age. Tinubu’s official date of birth is 29 March 1952. Yet documents disclosed during the Chicago proceedings contained dates of birth in 1954 and 1955. These discrepancies have been publicly reported. They do not establish his actual age, nor do they prove deliberate deception. But imagine submitting three different birth years during a professional background investigation. Would the employer not ask for a birth certificate or other reliable historical evidence? Would the applicant not be expected to explain the inconsistency? The issue is not whether someone looks younger or older than his official age. The issue is whether public records can be reconciled. A country of more than 200 million people should be able to establish the documented biographical history of its head of state without turning the exercise into a political crisis. THE PROBLEM IS BIGGER THAN TINUBU Nigeria has developed a political culture in which ordinary citizens are subjected to administrative scrutiny while powerful individuals can turn questions about their records into partisan battles. The young graduate seeking a banking job must produce certificates. The civil servant must account for discrepancies in personal information. The professional applying for an international position must provide employment references and submit to background checks. Yet when similar questions concern the country’s highest office, the debate too often becomes a contest of political loyalty. One side treats every allegation as established fact. The other treats every request for clarification as an attack. Neither approach serves the public interest. The presidency should be subject to transparent, independent verification. That principle should apply to every president, every governor, every minister and every senior public official, regardless of political party or ethnic background. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? The solution is not complicated. Publish an independently verified educational chronology. Explain the differences in the dates of birth appearing in historical records. Clarify the female designation on the Southwest College transcript, taking account of Chicago State University’s sworn explanation. Provide a documentary explanation of the reported Deloitte employment-record discrepancy. Establish the provenance of the Government College Lagos entry. And distinguish allegations already rejected by courts from factual questions that can still be answered through records. None of these steps requires a presumption of guilt. They require administrative transparency. Nigeria should not have to choose between unquestioning acceptance of a politician’s biography and unsupported accusations against him. There is a third option. Demand the documents. Verify the facts. Publish the findings. THE FINAL QUESTION Bola Tinubu has occupied some of the most powerful offices in Nigeria. He served as governor of Lagos State for eight years and has been President of Nigeria since May 2023. His political experience is a matter of public record. So is Chicago State University’s confirmation of his graduation. But neither political experience nor a university’s confirmation of a degree automatically resolves every discrepancy in a person’s wider biography. And no politician should be immune from questions simply because he occupies the presidency. The same standard should apply to Tinubu’s critics. Allegations of identity theft, forgery or fabricated employment must be supported by evidence before they are treated as facts. That is what equality before the law requires. The question I put to Nigerians is therefore simple: If a human resources department would insist on resolving inconsistencies in an applicant’s records before entrusting that person with a company’s finances, why should the public accept anything less when scrutinising the individual entrusted with the finances, institutions and executive authority of an entire nation? The answer should not depend on whether one supports Bola Tinubu. It should depend on whether one believes in accountability. Because a president’s most important qualification is not the ability to silence questions. It is the willingness to answer legitimate ones. The presidency is not above verification. And public trust should never depend on political loyalty alone. ⸻ Kio Amachree President, Worldview International Letters from Stockholm — The Kio Solution 10 November 2026