.. But Lawyers say it is a futile exercise.
Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court in Northern Illinois, on Saturday ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the academic records of President Bola Tinubu to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The decision followed a
Maldonado’s adoption of all the ruling of Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the U.S. District Court, ordering the immediate release of the academic records of Tinubu by the CSU.
Tinubu had objected to the Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert ruling ordering the immediate release of the academic records by the CSU.
According to the President, releasing the documents with deposition would cause him severe harm because they were private to him and would not be admissible in the ongoing petition against him in Nigeria.
But Maldonado overruled the president’s objections of the decision of the magistrate court.
“The Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore adopts the ruling in full. Mr Abubakar’s application is therefore granted,”
The judge also gave a timeframe within which the documents should be released to Atiku
According to her, the CSU has until noon on Monday to release the documents and the deposition of officials of CSU completed by 5 pm on Tuesday.
“In light of the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria deadline, represented to the court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s representations that it is ready to comply with the discovery requests and produce a witness, the court sets an expedited schedule for completion of discovery,”
Atiku, a former Vice President who contested the February 25 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had challenged the election of Tinubu and has been seeking Tinubu’s academic records to prove that the academic documents from the school Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC was fake.
But in their reactions, Tinubu’s Lawyers argued that Atiku’s pursuit of Tinubu’s certificate in CSU is an exercise in futility.
Oluwole Afolabi said on a social media on Saturday that ” The Electoral Act does not allow for introduction of new evidence on appeal.
” A party must provide a list of the documents he intends to rely on at the time his Petition is filed.
” A party cannot spring surprise on his adversary by introducing evidence that was not filed along with the Petition”
Another lawyer,Babatunde Ogala SAN also dismissed the ruling saying” it is of no value.”
Ogala who is the President’s personal lawyer said ” The headless mob is masturbating over nothing. The documents can no longer be used. It is of no value. We have passed that stage” he said.
He said what is important is that Tinubu attended CSU and the school provided his grades.
He added that the school objected to the release of the president’s electronic records covered by the US privacy law.
” One is whether President Tinubu attended Chicago State University, The answer is yes. Second, what were his grades in school? The school had already provided that”.
