Chicago State University’s X account has remained inaccessible to the public one year after President Bola Tinubu’s certificate saga sparked widespread criticisms of the American university.

A check by Peoples Gazette on August 31 shows CSU has left its X account blocked from the public’s views since it made the decision last year in August, restricting access to its content to only followers.

“These posts are protected,” the CSU X page reads. “Only confirmed followers have access to @ChicagoState’s posts and complete profile.”

A notification telling the general public that the institution had locked its X handle from the general public reads: “These posts are protected. Only confirmed followers have access to @ChicagoState’s posts and complete profiles. Tap the ‘Follow’ button to send a follow request.”

Last year, The Gazette reported that CSU locked its X account under intense criticism from Nigerians over Mr Tinubu’s controversial academic records.

This outlet could not verify why the institution chose to restrict the general public from its content a year after Mr Tinubu’s certificate saga, as there were no emails or phone contacts on their official website and Facebook page for The Gazette to make further enquiries.

Opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party had, in August 2023, requested court approval to subpoena Mr Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU because he believed the documents would clarify glaring inconsistencies in the president’s background, including publicly available documents that suggested the institution, in the 1970s, admitted a female student bearing Bola Tinubu, who was born on March 29, 1954.

In pushback against Mr Atiku’s legal move, which could expose his academic record, Mr Tinubu had also filed a motion to prevent a federal court in the United States from releasing his university academic records to Mr Abubakar.

Mr Tinubu also implicated a clerk at Chicago State University as responsible for irregularities that characterised a certificate the school reprinted in his name, according to new court filings seen by The Gazette.

However, the Nigerian Supreme Court dismissed new evidence in the certificate forgery scandal, reaffirming Mr Tinubu’s electoral victory; the matter continues to provoke debate among Nigerians.