A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has raised questions about President Bola Tinubu’s citizenship, educational background and family history in Nigeria.
Speaking in a video circulating on social media, the professor of law and human rights advocate said key details of the President’s personal records remain unclear to the public. He linked doubts over Tinubu’s nationality to controversies surrounding an alleged Guinean diplomatic passport.
“We have a President whose nationality is unknown because he holds a Guinea diplomatic passport,” Odinkalu said. He continued: “Somebody whose parentage, whose genealogy we do not know and we now understand that President Buhari thought the same thing too; whose primary school we do not know, whose secondary school we do not know, and who now claims to have gone to university.”
Odinkalu questioned how a university degree could be claimed without clear, verifiable records of primary and secondary education. He referenced earlier suggestions, including comments attributed to Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo, that the President may have been homeschooled, and argued that such details should have been openly disclosed in official documents if true. He also noted that previous educational claims linked to Tinubu, including references to certain secondary schools, had shifted or been disputed over time.
The remarks come amid ongoing public discussion about the educational certificates submitted by the President to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), particularly the absence of primary and secondary school documents in some filings.
Odinkalu’s comments have drawn attention across Nigerian media and social platforms, reigniting debate over transparency in the personal records of public office holders.
About the Author
