US Court Compels Chicago University to Hand Over Tinubu’s Records to Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has secured a court order from a United States court in Chicago to obtain all the records pertaining to President Bola Tinubu’s studentship at the Chicago State University (CSU).
The order was issued on Tuesday as part of Atiku’s ongoing legal challenge against Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
Atiku, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had filed an application on August 2, 2023, seeking the documents to prove that Tinubu had submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in violation of the Nigerian Constitution.
Section 137 (1)(j) of the Constitution (amended in 2010) stipulates that no one can be validly elected president of Nigeria if the person “has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
The Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division granted Atiku’s application and ordered CSU to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Atiku’s requests within two days.
The judge also ordered a deposition of designated university officials within two days after the records had been released. The judge noted that Atiku had sufficiently satisfied the purpose for seeking the records.
“For all of the reasons discussed above, Atiku Abubakar’s application pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for an order directing discovery from Chicago State University for use in a foreign proceeding [ECF No. 1] is granted,”
“Respondent CSU shall produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to requests for production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by the court) in applicant subpoena within two days of the entry of this memorandum opinion and order.”
“The deposition of respondent’s corporate designee shall proceed within two days of the production of documents,” the court added.
The order came hours after Atiku filed his appeal to the Supreme Court, following the September 6 judgement of the presidential election petitions tribunal that upheld Tinubu’s victory.
Atiku had alleged that Tinubu presented a certificate to INEC that was purportedly issued in 1979 and signed by Elnora Daniel, who only became the president of CSU in 1998 and left in 2008.
Atiku also claimed that CSU issued another certificate in Tinubu’s name in June 2022 under subpoena from a Nigerian lawyer who had inquired about Tinubu’s education there.
During a hearing on the matter on September 12, 2023, CSU’s lawyer Michael Hayes admitted that the school could not authenticate Tinubu’s certificate if asked under oath, although he said Tinubu attended the school and graduated in 1979.
Tinubu’s lawyers, led by Christopher Carmichael, argued that the court should not grant Atiku’s application because it was a frivolous expedition aimed at tarnishing Tinubu’s reputation. Tinubu’s lawyers also argued that Nigerian Supreme Court would not accept fresh evidence that was not produced during the tribunal proceeding.
But Mr Abubakar’s team, led by Angela Liu, had argued that the Supreme Court would accommodate the fresh facts under unique circumstances, especially as they were not available to the Court of Appeal, which is the court of first instance in a presidential election dispute.
But Judge Gilbert said courts across the U.S. have traditionally taken a broad and liberal view in granting applications under Section 1782, a statute that allows the release of documents and evidence domiciled in the U.S. to be obtained and used in a foreign proceeding.
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