President Bola Tinubu has suffered a setback in his attempt to prevent Chicago State University (CSU) from releasing his academic records to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
This development comes after United States Judge Nancy Maldonado upheld the ruling of Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, ordering the immediate release of Tinubu’s academic records by CSU.
Tinubu had contested the ruling of Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, arguing that the release of the documents would cause him significant harm as they were private and inadmissible in the ongoing petition against him in Nigeria.
It is worth noting that Atiku, who contested the February 25 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been seeking Tinubu’s academic records to prove that he presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In her ruling on Saturday, Judge Maldonado deemed the decision of the lower federal magistrate judge on September 19 appropriate and fully adopted it.
“The Court rejects President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s ruling and, therefore, adopts the ruling in its entirety. Mr. Abubakar’s application is hereby granted,” the judge ruled.
The judge has also given CSU until noon on Monday to release the documents and complete the deposition of CSU officials by 5pm CDT on Tuesday.
“Considering the impending deadline set by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which has been represented to the court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s assurance of compliance with the discovery requests and provision of a witness, the court has established an expedited schedule for the completion of discovery,” the judge stated.
Judge Maldonado warned that any further attempts by Tinubu to appeal the judgment within the district would no longer be tolerated, as Abubakar must transfer the collected evidence to Nigeria’s Supreme Court for use in an ongoing election petition case by October 5.
However, the judge clarified that Tinubu is at liberty to file his appeal directly before the Seventh Circuit, which is the appellate court overseeing Illinois and nearby states.
