Tinubu’s background claim at Chatham House contradicts sworn affidavit to INEC

All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu claims that one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world, Deloitte, trained him to be an accountant, a statement that is inconsistent with the information contained in his sworn affidavit submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) earlier in the year.

Mr Tinubu in his affidavit to the electoral commission, said he became a certified accountant in 1979 and worked at Arthur Anderson firm for years before joining Deloitte in 1983.

However, judging by his speech at the Chatham House in London Monday afternoon, Mr Tinubu boasted that Deloitte, which he joined in 1983, was the firm that taught him accounting and that the private sector was where he attained the peak of his career.

“Deloitte trained me as an accountant. Mobil has attested to my record. I got to the pinnacle of my career in the private sector,” the former Lagos governor boastfully said. “Who among them can brag about that?”

Meanwhile, the work experience records submitted to INEC and seen by Peoples Gazette, showed that Mr Tinubu obtained his certification in public accounting in 1979, worked in Arthur Anderson accounting firm for some years before proceeding to Deloitte Haskins and Sells in 1983. 

In 1986, the former Lagos governor moved to Mobil Oil Corporation where he worked in the General Audit department before getting an upgrade to the position of a treasurer in the same firm between 1988 and 1992, Mr Tinubu’s sworn affidavit showed.

Bayo Onanuga, Mr Tinubu’s campaign aide did not immediately reply to messages seeking clarification on his principal’s contradictory statements.