Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to provide clarity over his recent claim that a Belarusian businessman, Alex Zingman, was his classmate at Chicago State University (CSU).
Atiku’s media office issued a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, describing Tinubu’s assertion as questionable and fraught with inconsistencies, particularly when matched against public records and Zingman’s age and background.
President Tinubu had made the claim on Monday during the launch of the Renewed Hope Mechanisation Programme in Abuja, stating:
“Alex is my classmate. We attended CSU together.”
But Atiku’s camp swiftly challenged the statement.
“A basic review of publicly available information immediately calls the President’s claim into question,” the statement read.
“Mr. Alex Zingman, a Belarusian businessman whose name features prominently in controversial dealings across Africa, including allegations of arms trafficking and financial improprieties in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo — is listed in various reports as being born in 1966.
“By the year 1979, when President Tinubu claims to have graduated from CSU, Mr. Zingman would have been only 13 years old.”
Atiku questioned the plausibility of such a timeline:
“Are we now to believe that the Guinness Book of Records missed the story of a 13-year-old Belarusian prodigy graduating from an American university alongside Bola Ahmed Tinubu?”
He also raised concerns about the nature of the President’s alleged ties to a figure mired in international controversy:
“Even more troubling is the President’s casual association with a man whose international reputation is mired in scandal,” the former Vice President said.
“This leads us to ask, with the solemn weight of patriotism and the urgency of truth: Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know why a man born in 1966 is being paraded as your classmate who graduated in 1979. Were you taught in the same classroom or different decades?”
“Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know if the Alex Zingman of global infamy — the arms-linked tycoon — shares the same seat in your memories or only in a script of fiction.”
Atiku didn’t stop there. He used the opportunity to revive long-standing questions about Tinubu’s academic background, casting doubt on his credentials from institutions like Government College, Lagos, and Richard Daley College.
“Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know why, since you claim to have presented a certificate from Government College, Lagos to gain entry into Richard Daley College in 1973, no classmate from that institution has ever spoken of sharing a desk with you,” the statement continued.
“Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know how a school founded in 1972 could issue you a certificate dated 1970 — unless you were a lone prophet of a school yet unborn.”
“Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know why you have not proudly unveiled a single verifiable classmate from your supposed years in Government College, Lagos or Government College, Ibadan or Chicago State University, the way other leaders do with ease and pride.”
Atiku concluded by reminding Tinubu of the moral and constitutional obligations attached to his office.
“Mr. President, your oath of office binds you not just to protect our nation but to honour its truth. The Presidency is not a sanctuary for secrets — it is a platform for integrity,” the statement said.
“And as such, Nigerians await not tales of Alexes from distant lands but proof, clarity, and the simple dignity of facts.”
