Adetokunbo Pearse

Lecturer and Candidate

Pearse is described in Nigerian reporting as a university teacher, and in October 2021 the Nigerian press identified him as a University of Lagos lecturer and former SDP governorship candidate. In January 2019, he told the News Agency of Nigeria that his Lagos campaign would raise education spending, expand vocational training and rebrand the state’s neighbourhood safety corps for community policing. After Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s inauguration as governor that year, he urged him to serve residents rather than political backers.

The 2021 Bid for PDP Lagos Chairmanship

By October 2021, Pearse had joined the PDP and was one of the candidates for state party chairman at that month’s congress. He promised a ₦1 billion building fund to buy or build a state secretariat, saying the party was renting premises in Ikeja GRA, and pledged to end infighting and rebuild the party from ward level. In a later interview with Tribune, he described the PDP as the best vehicle to challenge Tinubu in 2027 and opposed coalitions with other parties.

The Akpabio Demand Letter, 2025

On October 4, 2025, speaking on Arise TV in a discussion about women in the National Assembly, Pearse called Senate President Godswill Akpabio corrupt and criminal and described the legislature as a rubber stamp. Akpabio’s lawyers, S. I. Ameh (SAN) & Co., sent a demand letter dated October 7, 2025, calling the remarks false and made in bad faith, and demanded a retraction and public apology within three days, failing which they said they would sue for defamation and criminal incitement. The reports reviewed carried no response from Pearse and no outcome, so the dispute’s status is not known from these sources.

The Chicago State University Claims

Pearse made his statements in a News Central interview on Sunday, November 8, 2026, which the Gazette published that day and Politics Nigeria and First Daily the next. He said Tinubu never attended CSU, called him a professional crook, and said Tinubu’s INEC submission listed schools he never attended. He said he lectured at CSU from 1985 to 1990 and directed the programme Tinubu says he attended, and that around 1999 people seeking Tinubu’s academic record in connection with the late Lagos politician Funsho Williams were sent to him, a recollection he introduced with “I think.” On November 9, The Sun also reported that he accused Education Minister Tunji Alausa of lying; Alausa had said on Channels Television on November 3 that Tinubu graduated with a first-class degree in accounting, adding that he had met many of Tinubu’s classmates, though he named none in the reports reviewed. ADC figure Babatunde Gbadamosi backed Pearse and called him a man of integrity, according to Politics Nigeria.

The record that the reports set beside his claims is summarised below. Pearse has not published documents supporting what he said, and none of the reviewed reports verified his statements independently.

CSU has also said that it could not authenticate the diploma because it is a ceremonial document, and its registrar, Caleb Westberg, has said the university could not locate the original 1979 diploma, as Politics Nigeria noted. The Politics Nigeria report adds that a BBC investigation in October 2023 found no evidence the diploma was forged and that the Supreme Court rejected Atiku Abubakar’s bid to introduce the records as evidence on October 26, 2023.

The “Same Cell” Warning on 2027

In the same interview, Pearse warned Tinubu and INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan against rigging the 2027 general election, saying “If they rig, they may die in same cell” in a remark Saga Gist read as a warning that rigging could lead to imprisonment. He did not name specific plans or present evidence for rigging, and the report carried no response from Tinubu, Amupitan or INEC.

Timeline

As of November 9, 2026, the reports reviewed showed no court action against or by Pearse arising from the Chicago State claims and no official response from the presidency, the APC or CSU to his latest remarks.