U.S. Court Orders Chicago University to Handover Tinubu's Academic Record to Atiku by Monday Noon
The U.S. court has ordered Chicago University to turn over the coveted academic records of Chief Bola Tinubu to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, by Monday noon. Tinubu's records, believed to contain evidence of his academic credentials, have been hotly contested by Atiku, who believes that they could be used to further his election bid in 2023. This decision by the court could be the deciding factor in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
President Bola Tinubu has lost his emergency appeal to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The appeal was to prevent Chicago State University from releasing Tinubu's academic records to former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Judge Nancy L. Maldonado ruled against Tinubu's objections and adopted the ruling of Magistrate Judge Gilbert. Tinubu had appealed against the order of Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert, who had instructed Chicago State University to release all relevant records about Tinubu to Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu had asked Judge Maldonado to block certain details, such as gender and admission records, from being released to Atiku. Atiku had brought the case to prove that Tinubu was ineligible to be President of Nigeria, despite being elected in February 2023, and that he had submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had declared Tinubu the winner of the election, with Atiku coming second and Peter Obi of the Labour Party coming third.
In her judgement, Judge Maldonado granted Atiku's request for the release of the documents. She also set an expedited schedule for the completion of discovery, taking into account the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria's deadline of October 5, 2023. She directed Chicago State University to produce all relevant documents and complete the deposition by the specified deadlines.
The ruling, titled "Memorandum Opinion and Order," explained that Atiku initiated the action under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, a federal statute that allows a district court to order the production of documents or testimony for use in a foreign legal proceeding. Atiku seeks documents and testimony related to Tinubu's academic qualifications to support his challenge to the election results.
The court stated that Atiku had challenged the validity of Tinubu's election in Nigerian courts, alleging that Tinubu had submitted a forged diploma from Chicago State University to INEC. Atiku argued that this disqualification should have prevented Tinubu from participating in the election.
