₦airaland Forum

PRESS RELEASE

Tinubu’s Curious Classmate: Nigerians Deserve Answers, Not More Confusion

During the inauguration of the Renewed Hope Mechanisation Programme in Abuja yesterday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made what appeared to be a lighthearted revelation — that a certain Mr. Alex Zingman was his classmate at Chicago State University (CSU). But rather than evoke confidence, the claim has triggered more questions than answers, particularly regarding the President’s long-contested academic history.

A basic review of publicly available information immediately calls the President’s claim into question. 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.

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?

Even more troubling is the President’s casual association with a man whose international reputation is mired in scandal.

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 in 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.

Mr. President, Nigerians deserve to know why the mystery around your academic record deepens with every attempt to clarify it. Who truly walked the halls of Chicago State University with you?

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.

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.

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. And as such, Nigerians await not tales of Alexes from distant lands but proof, clarity, and the simple dignity of facts.

Signed:
Atiku Media Office
Abuja
June 24, 2025.

TimeManager:
Lol, at least we are now aware that Atiku pays his boys around 850k - 1million naira. But unfortunately, they are being paid for a lazy job, my sincere sympathy goes to Atiku for wasting his money. Mr President's speech is very clear and much available in audiovisual. Tinubu referred to the man as his schoolmate and not as his classmate.. big difference.
If this is the best opposition could offer, then I'm so sorry for them, no wonder, they keep failing.


-Kiss the truth!

NwekeUG:
Video Of Tinubu's Schoolmate Alexander Zingman Being Arrested For Arms Dealing

slivertongue:
Tinubu's identity fraud is a well known story. He borrowed Donald Duke's

TimeManager:
Lol, at least we are now aware that Atiku pays his boys around 850k - 1million naira. But unfortunately, they are being paid for a lazy job, my sincere sympathy goes to Atiku for wasting his money. Mr President's speech is very clear and much available in audiovisual. Tinubu referred to the man as his schoolmate and not as his classmate.. big difference.
If this is the best opposition could offer, then I'm so sorry for them, no wonder, they keep failing.


-Kiss the truth!

papyjaypaul:
Politics aside, isn't it weird that Nigerians have a president that does not have a verifiable past

The other day I heard one of his people say he was a forensic auditor at Mobil. Eweleke o! The last time I heard, he was an accountant, then an auditor, now this and that.

Two old timers met in a city in North America. One still works in Nigeria, the second one in North America moved there in the late 80s. As they were reminiscing about their days in Uni, talking about Babangida, hostel life and all of that, I smh that it's sad we can entrust our lives with someone whose classmates can't identify as one of them. It's really sad and tells a lot about the person. If two people could meet abroad after 40 years and talk about their past, why will 60 million voters entrust their destiny in the hands of those who are hiding something? They deserve whatever they get from there.

advanceDNA:
See what u are defending?? Sometimes it's better not to say anything...
...the man cannot even be tinubu's school mate becos he ddnt even start college at 13 when tinubu graduated at 1979, he ddnt even go to Chicago state University.

.........he schooled at Belarusian National Technical University much later

Mrfixitt:
Tinubu is the biggest scam in Nigerian history. Man is a forger, druggie and corruption at its peak.

zero8zero:
You must be talking about the Agulu fraud


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papyjaypaul:
I knew people were going to call on the age of this guy but the president has more questions to answer about himself than his classmates.