By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, presided over by Judge Jeffrey Gilbert has ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) o release the academic records of Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, to Abubakar Atiku, the plaintiff, within two days.
The court in its ruling on Tuesday ordered the CSU to produce “all relevant and non-privileged documents” to Atiku who was candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Feb. 25 presidential election in Nigeria
Atiku is challenging the victory of Tinubu, the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, a poll Atiku says President Tinubu was not qualified to run for.
Tinubu’s lawyers have argued that their client is not willing to lift his privacy privilege, with the ruling also conceding this by using the term ‘non-privileged documents’.
The University in its deposition before the court had repeatedly confirmed that Tinubu attended the university and graduated in 1979.
“Atiku will not receive a copy of any certificate from the US. He is only left with a copy of Tinubu’s academic records, including the admission letter and exam sheets”, @Renerodrig1142, who has kept a tab on the case wrote on X on Wednesday.
“There is no new information coming forth. Jamar Orr will orally state that he certified those documents and handed them over to Tinubu’s lawyer.
“This settlement holds no relevance to the case in Nigeria, making it a total waste of effort,” he wrote, attaching the full judgment.
The information Atiku requested is to be used in his petition against Bola Tinubu’s Election, for which he has filed 35 grounds of appeal before Supreme Court of Nigeria.
He is urging the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court(PEPC), which on 6 September affirmed Tinubu’s election.
Atiku in the Notice of Appeal on Tuesday held that the Presidential Election Petition Court in the judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Tsammani committed grave error and miscarriage of justice in its findings and conclusion in the petition challenging the declaration of Tinubu as President by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
