The controversy surrounding the academic records of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu may finally be put to rest after a United States district court ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the records to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by Tuesday.
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the disputed Nigerian election of February 25, had filed a motion last week seeking the release of Tinubu’s records in the institution to him to aid his appeal of Tinubu’s election victory at the Nigerian Supreme Court.
The PDP candidate had requested the documents for use in Nigerian courts to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from CSU in 1979 and submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the 2023 presidential election.
But Tinubu, in a counter motion, had urged the court to refrain from releasing his academic records to Atiku as that would mean a breach of his fundamental human rights.
But in a ruling on Saturday, the presiding judge of the Northern District of Illinois, Nancy Maldonado dismissed Tinubu’s objection, issuing a two-day ultimatum to CSU to release the documents to Atiku, which will elapse on Tuesday.
According to the judge, CSU must complete all necessary filings regarding the release by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Maldonado also upheld the ruling of the Unites States Magistrate Judge, Jeffery Gilbert, who had ordered CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records as requested by Atiku, stressing that Atiku had the right to have access to the records.
“For the reasons stated in the Court’s accompanying Memorandum Opinion and Order, the Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections (44) and adopts Judge Gilbert’s recommended decision (40) in full,” Maldonado ruled.
“The Court therefore grants Mr. Abubakar’s application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. [1],” Justice Maldonado added.
Reading her ruling further, she said:
“Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by Judge Gilbert and adopted by the District Court in its opinion) in Mr. Abubakar’s subpoena, by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CDT, on Monday, October 2, 2023.
“The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.”