Atiku Currently Speechless As Chicago University Releases Tinubu’s Records, Authenticates Certificate
Chicago State University (CSU) complied with the District Court of Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division’s order and released President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s academic records yesterday.
The court, on Saturday, directed CSU to provide Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Tinubu’s primary rival in the 2023 general elections.
This development followed U.S. Judge Nancy Maldonado’s memorandum of opinion and order, in which she adopted all the rulings made by Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the U.S. District Court.
Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, had contested Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert’s ruling, which ordered the immediate release of his academic records by CSU. The President argued that disclosing these documents, along with sworn statements, would cause him substantial harm as they were of a private nature and would not be pertinent to the ongoing legal challenge against him in Nigeria.
However, Atiku lodged another appeal, leading to the judge’s directive for the documents to be released within 48 hours.
“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 ruled.
CSU, in a certificate of service signed by its counsel, Michael D. Hayes, stated that: “I hereby certify that on this 2nd day of October, 2023, the foregoing response to the Applicant’s Revised Subpoena to Produce Documents was served on all counsel of record by electronic mail.”
The released documents, as per Atiku’s request, included a true and correct copy of the diploma for the Bachelor of Science degree issued in 1979. These were labeled as CSU 0001 through 0007, with the student’s name obscured for privacy reasons.
However, the university stated that it could not locate a true and correct copy of the diploma it issued to Tinubu in 1979.
The university clarified, “CSU does not ordinarily keep copies of student diplomas, and after diligent search, cannot locate a copy of the original diploma it prepared for Mr. Tinubu in 1979, hence it has no documents responsive to this request.”
Regarding Atiku’s request for any other CSU diploma (other than that issued to President Tinubu) “containing the same font, seal, signatures, and wording which purports to be a CSU diploma issued to the president on or about June 22, 1979,” the university located them and labeled them as CSU 0008 through CSU 0010, with the student’s identity obscured for privacy reasons.
The university also released documents certified by Jamar Orr in Exhibit D to Uwais Declaration, labeled as CSU 0013 through 0032, as requested by Atiku.
The releases followed an order on Saturday by Judge Nancy Maldonado, overruling Tinubu’s objection to Judge Gilbert’s earlier approval of Atiku’s application.
She stated that Atiku’s requests met the requirements under 28 U.S.C S 1782, as Tinubu’s submission of his CSU diploma to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its relevance outweighs his privacy interests.
She further noted that Atiku made the request for the documents as a candidate in the February 25 presidential election to enable him to present them in his appeal at the Supreme Court in Nigeria, in support of his claim that Tinubu was not qualified to contest at the time of the election.
When contacted for a reaction to the release of Tinubu’s academic records, a spokesperson for Atiku, Phrank Shaibu, said he would get back to Daily Trust, but as of the time of filing the report around midnight, he had not responded.
He also did not reply to a text message sent to him. Controversy had surrounded the details of credentials submitted by Tinubu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
