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A United States court has issued an order mandating Chicago State University (CSU) to disclose President Bola Tinubu’s academic records to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar by Tuesday.
The presiding judge, Nancy Maldonado, overruled Tinubu’s objection and ordered CSU to release the documents to Atiku within a two-day deadline.
She also upheld the September 20 ruling of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, who ordered CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records, as requested by Atiku. The judge emphasized that PDP candidate Atiku had the right to access these records.
“The Court, for the reasons outlined in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion and Order, hereby rejects President Tinubu’s objections [44] and fully endorses Judge Gilbert’s recommended decision [40].
“Consequently, Justice Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois grants Mr. Abubakar’s application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 [1].”
The judge has instructed CSU to complete all necessary filings related to the release by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The court has ruled that “Respondent CSU is directed to provide all pertinent 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 concluded by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.”
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had approached the U.S. District Court in Northern Illinois to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records. He argued that this would strengthen his case challenging the President’s election in the February 25 presidential poll.
The PDP candidate had requested these 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.
