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Atiku files motion for US court to overrule President Tinubu’s objection to release of CSU records

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The battle for the disputed presidential election in Nigeria has taken a new dimension after the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, filed a fresh motion urging a United States Court to overrule President Bola Tinubu’s request to stop Chicago State University (CSU) from releasing his academic records to him.

Atiku’s fresh motion, which was filed on Thursday, is a counter to an earlier order secured by Tinubu from a US district judge stopping CSU from releasing what the President’s legal team termed as “privileged documents” following Judge Jeffrey Gilbert order that the institution should provide all relevant and non-privileged documents to Atiku’s legal team within two days.

Atiku, who is currently challenging Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election, is seeking the release of privileged and non-privileged records of Tinubu’s admission and acceptance at the Chicago State University, dates of attendance, as well the degrees, awards, and honours obtained by the president from CSU.

However, as the deadline given by Gilbert drew to a close, Tinubu’s lawyers approached the US High Court to file a motion stopping the release of the documents with the argument that the earlier decision by the magistrate needed to be reviewed by a district judge.

The request for a review and delay of the magistrate’s order was eventually granted by the court.

Tinubu’s application was based on two reasons. The first being that his academic records are not useful in Nigerian courts as claimed by Atiku because, according to his lawyers, “the Nigerian election proceedings and the Nigerian courts have explicitly been unreceptive to the discovery.”

The second ground argued
that Atiku’s request was “unduly intrusive because it allows the applicant to conduct a fishing expedition into the intervenor’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.”

In the fresh response filed by the former vice president in Chicago, Illinois, Atiku, however, urged the court to overrule Tinubu’s request in its entirety.

“If the court overrules the objections, the applicant respectfully requests that it enter an order requiring production of documents no later than October 2, 2023, and the deposition scheduled no later than October 3, to allow time for transcripts to be finalised,” Atiku said in the motion.

“The discovery obtained to be sent to Nigeria (which is six hours ahead) by October 4, so that such evidence may, in turn, be filed with the Supreme Court by October 5, which is when applicant’s Nigerian counsel intend to submit any new evidence to the Supreme Court,” he added.

The former vice president also declared that his goal was to test the authenticity and origin of 12 pages of documents, including two very different diplomas, purported to have been issued by CSU, maintaining that there were discrepancies between the information in the CSU documents and the information in the affidavit Tinubu submitted to INEC.

“If, as the intervenor asserts, he graduated from CSU in 1979 and the CSU documents are authentic copies issued, there is no reason why he should oppose the limited discovery the applicant seeks.”

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Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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Nigerian Senate confirms influx of terrorists from Mali, Burkina Faso into the country 

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The Nigerian Senate has raised the alarm over the influx of terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso who operate in the name of Lakurawa, into Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger States in the northern parts of the country.

The Upper Chamber, which raised the alarm during plenary on Wednesday, called on the military to set up early warning mechanisms to forestall further incursions by terrorist groups as well as maintain presence and vigilance in the affected communities to halt the activities of the terror group from spreading further across the region.

The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion titled, “Urgent need for the federal government to take stringent measures to stop the infiltration of a group of violent terrorists, known as Lakurawa, from entrenching themselves in some northwest states of Sokoto and Kebbi,” and was sponsored by the senator representing Kebbi North, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, and co- sponsored by Senators Adamu Aliero, from Kebbi Central, and Garba Musa Maidoki, representing Kebbi South.

While presenting the motion, Senator Abdullahi said:

“The Senate is aware that a group of terrorists from neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, known as Lakurawa, has infiltrated the country through the Nigeria-Niger border, at Illela, Tangaza and Silame Local Government Areas of Sokoto and are from there, attacking communities in Augie and Arewa LGAs in Kebbi State.

“Recall that this violent gang of terrorists had raided and dispossessed these communities, prior to the large-scale invasion of Mera, a village in Augie Local Government, on November 8, 2024, killing more than 20 people and fleeing with their livestock, amounting to hundreds of millions of naira.

“Senate is aware that Kebbi State government promptly responded by sending a delegation with relief materials to the affected villages and assistance to the families of the deceased.

“Aware that Senator Yahaya A. Abdullahi (Kebbi North) and Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi North Central) and Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South), along with some members of the House of Representatives from Kebbi State, have been to those areas, to commiserate with victims of the attacks on behalf of the National Assembly.

“Aware that if timely, adequate and decisive measures are not taken, this group can spread its reign of terror to other northern parts of the country and beyond.

“Notes the prompt response of the ministry of defence and the armed forces who despatched a well-armed military response squad that was able to dislodge the terrorists and secured the release of herds of cattle and other livestock stolen by the terrorists. These foreigners have invaded the country.

“We need to nip the situation in the bud, they have international connections, heavily armed with very dangerous weapons, the federal government should take the matter very seriously.

‘These terrorists are well armed with highly sophisticated weapons, this is a very serious matter on national security, they control the whole of Northern Mali and now attacking Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, and others. The time to act is now, we have to take action on how to tame terrorism.”

He said the Senate should revisit past resolutions on terrorism and send them to the Presidency for immediate action.

”I want us to recall what happened in the 8th and 9th Senates. We discussed extensively how we can stem the tide of banditry and terrorism. We made far-reaching recommendations, and we asked the Executive arm of government to implement those resolutions.

“It is still relevant for us to insist that those resolutions should be implemented, if we do so, it will reduce the incidences of banditry and insurgency in the country. We can reduce it to the barest minimum.”

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