15k Nigerians students, will end up with fake credentials, no thanks to the “Cotonou Certificate” scam rocking some universities in neighbouring Benin Republic, Togo and other countries.
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Up to 15,000 Nigerian students in Benin Republic alone are caught up in the ban placed by Abuja on degree certificates obtained from any university in that country, Togo, and some others whose courses are of a lower standard and not accredited.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Benin Republic has urged the federal government to be lenient over the matter as the students will be negatively affected by the ban.
The ban on “Cotonou certificates” came after undercover reporter Umar Audu revealed how he graduated from Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, (ESGT), Benin Republic after six weeks of study and participated in Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Parallel case with Tinubu’s certificate forgery
The Nigerian students are in the same loop as Bola Tinubu, only with a twist.
If they graduate from their respective universities in Benin Republic, they would end up with fake certificates, like Tinubu. But their certificates would be issued by their schools, unlike the President’s.
According to court documents and the forms of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Tinubu filled, there is no record of both his primary and secondary education.
He went to the United States in the 1970s where he claimed to have attended Southwest College, Chicago with three General Certificate Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) papers obtained in 1970. He passed two papers and failed one, the court papers show.
The court documents also show he graduated from Government College Lagos in May 1970 but the “Bola A. Tinubu” on the admission form disclose the owner of the transcript is a “Female”.
Government College Lagos was not established until 1974, as stated on the school’s website.. Meaning, Tinubu – the male or female version – could not have attended and graduated from the school by 1970, four years before it was established.
A case of self-disclosed forgery.
Then, as exposed by the court papers, Tinubu attended Chicago State University (CSU) without full qualifying subjects. As is the system in the US, he was admitted to CSU on condition he would produce all his qualifying subjects before he could be issued with a degree certificate.
For instance, there was no evidence he passed English language, mathematics, and other prerequisite subjects for business administration course he enrolled for at CSU.
Before Tinubu finished at CSU, the school reminded him in writing that he needed to produce all documents that met his admission requirements. He did not comply. And CSU did not issue him a certificate when he graduated, according to the deposition of the school, which became part of the court filings.
Tinubu went on to forge his CSU certificate, again as documented in the court papers – and it became a slur and a scandal the Supreme Court in Nigeria did not clear him of.
Therefore, even though Tinubu is President, he remains a certificate forger, just as he is a former drug trafficker, which the Supreme Court also did not clear him of.
Basically, Tinubu has no genuine educational certificate from primary school to university level.
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NANS Abuja urges to consider cases of innocent students
NANS Benin Republic President Favour Ugochukwu urged Abuja to consider the circumstances of students who were admitted legitimately into Cotonou schools in effecting the ban.
“For now, I will say that the federal government should look into the issue. Now, you can’t because it is happening in this school, punish everyone because it involves close to 15,000 students in Benin Republic,” he pleaded on Channels Television.
Ugochukwu implored the government to look into the matter critically and bring charges against involved.
He said NANS Benin Republic has formed a committee to investigate the case and the report of its findings will help prevent recurrence of the crime.
“I have really not validated if it has been happening for a long time. This is just like what just came out on social media and we are still trying to find out how long it has been happening.
“So, that is why I set up a committee as the president to investigate it.”
